National Museum of Natural Science

Temnotrema sculptum is a member of the Order Camarodonta and Family Temnopleuridae. It is an extremely small sea urchin with test diameter of only around 1.5 centimeters. In 1978, Japanese scholar Utinomi marked this species in the Taiwan Strait on a color atlas of animal species along Japan's coasts. However, there was no specimen record until April 2012. As a Master's degree student at National Kaohsiung Normal University, Sheng-Chih Huang collected a number of individuals from oyster farming racks in Jiangjun District of Tainan City. These provided proof of this species' distribution in Taiwan. 

The spines are dense, thick and short. They are reddish brown at the base, yellowish green in the center and white at the tips. They are very small and beautiful. The test is gray. The tubercles of the interambulacral and ambulacral zones on the aboral surface are olive green. The centers of the interambulacral zone are yellowish green. On side view, the test appears oblate spheroid in shape. The apical system slightly protrudes from the center of the aboral surface. Around the mouth it is flat. Looking down on the test from the aboral surface it appears like a beautiful little watermelon.

This species is mainly distributed in coastal areas of the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and Taiwan Strait. In Taiwan, it is currently only found in areas of oyster farms along the western coast. Its natural distribution has not yet been fully determined.