Aloha, I hope you have a wonderful visit to Maui! If you get a chance to stop by the Maui Ocean Center, make sure to come say hi! :) I have many hopes and dreams for the Kaimana Conservation brand. Right now we are a digital platform, but with some time and effort - who knows where we might end up ;)

Aloha Lanie! Great questions :) 1. I'd like to preface this by saying that there are several different species of sea urchin in Hawaii, and some of our urchins are venomous so it's important to know what not to touch! You always want to be careful handling urchins because if their spines break off in your skin it can cause a nasty bacterial infection. Depending on the species and type of spine, as long as you are gentle and handle them carefully, the spines don't necessarily hurt. That being said, this is a rock boring urchin, it isn't venomous, and it has thicker spines which help it cling to the rocks. This guy's spines actually feels like toothpicks. :) 2. great question. I work for the Maui Ocean Center, and the Education Department does offer this on the website. We are in the process of re-doing the Education page with the inquiry form but it should be up soon. I'm also hoping to launch a patreon soon that will give people access to more information like that! Stay tuned! :D

@@KaimanaConservation thank you so much for the answers! I can’t wait to explore more on your channel!! Mahalo!!

Hi there Lina! Check out my most recent video: a day in the life of a marine biologist at the Maui Ocean Center :) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qp-hiq9k3cfUnJs.html