Purple Uni

I went crabbing and fishing yesterday on the Sonoma coast. Caught some Uni in my crab traps (that’s a first for me). When I cracked the purple Uni open the inside was black. Did I not eat them fast enough?

Ended the day with 5 rock fish caught a bunch more small guys, 4 dungies, and 1 rock crab. No lings

I went crabbing and fishing yesterday on the Sonoma coast. Caught some Uni in my crab traps (that’s a first for me). When I cracked the purple Uni open the inside was black. Did I not eat them fast enough?

Ended the day with 5 rock fish caught a bunch more small guys, 4 dungies, and 1 rock crab. No lings

The inside is not black, it's just empty of any uni (roe).  They only reproduce when there is food, and with all the massive insane urchin barrens, very few have any roe unless they are caught at the tide line, or around kelp. 

Kept on ice, urchins will stay alive for a day or two, and I've harvested them 48 hours later.  It's definitely sensitive to all kinds of environmental and situational impacts, and the quality varies dramatically as well.  The bummer part is that purple urchins can survive for over 5 years without any food source, basically going dormant.  They have destroyed almost all the kelp on the north coast and have spread into oregon and WA. 

Many reasons why...don't get me started, but one of the largest issues with the combination of the large offshore body of warm water we had years ago, and the sea star wasting disease (the urchins primary predator).  Culling has been shown to temporarily improve, and there are various spots on the North Coast that allow culling without intention of use, if you're a member (easy to join, im part of a bunch). 

The reds (the commercially fished urchins) are much larger with dramatically larger yields; purple aren't a sustainable commercial harvest but it helps the ecosystem to kill them.  I actually like the taste quite a bit!   

Sorry if that was already known info, I just like talking about urchins, I harvest them multiple times a week. 

I went crabbing and fishing yesterday on the Sonoma coast. Caught some Uni in my crab traps (that’s a first for me). When I cracked the purple Uni open the inside was black. Did I not eat them fast enough?

Ended the day with 5 rock fish caught a bunch more small guys, 4 dungies, and 1 rock crab. No lings

The inside is not black, it's just empty of any uni (roe).  They only reproduce when there is food, and with all the massive insane urchin barrens, very few have any roe unless they are caught at the tide line, or around kelp. 

Kept on ice, urchins will stay alive for a day or two, and I've harvested them 48 hours later.  It's definitely sensitive to all kinds of environmental and situational impacts, and the quality varies dramatically as well.  The bummer part is that purple urchins can survive for over 5 years without any food source, basically going dormant.  They have destroyed almost all the kelp on the north coast and have spread into oregon and WA. 

Many reasons why...don't get me started, but one of the largest issues with the combination of the large offshore body of warm water we had years ago, and the sea star wasting disease (the urchins primary predator).  Culling has been shown to temporarily improve, and there are various spots on the North Coast that allow culling without intention of use, if you're a member (easy to join, im part of a bunch). 

The reds (the commercially fished urchins) are much larger with dramatically larger yields; purple aren't a sustainable commercial harvest but it helps the ecosystem to kill them.  I actually like the taste quite a bit!   

Sorry if that was already known info, I just like talking about urchins, I harvest them multiple times a week.

Good to know thanks for info!!

I snagged a red urchin in HMB yesterday.  I was trolling some jacksmelt next to a kelpy reef and snagged.  Wound up pulling the snag free and the jacksmelt was all wrapped up in the urchin's spines.  It wasn't too large, though... only about 3" or 4" across.  With the way purples have dominated reefs in NorCal, I was quite surprised to see a red.

I snagged a red urchin in HMB yesterday.  I was trolling some jacksmelt next to a kelpy reef and snagged.  Wound up pulling the snag free and the jacksmelt was all wrapped up in the urchin's spines.  It wasn't too large, though... only about 3" or 4" across.  With the way purples have dominated reefs in NorCal, I was quite surprised to see a red.

They're still doing ok from what I've heard, and it's at least somewhat verified by what I personally see when I dive and scuba dive (although I'm usually stopping at 120ft).  They've cut down a lot of the commercial take this year (partially also because they've received grants in Sonoma and Mendo Co to cull purples instead).  Luckily the reds can go fairly dormant for a good deal of time as well, so hopefully they can weather this purple storm. 

If this so called urchin wasting disease ever pops up with the overpopulation, I wonder if it was decimate all the species or just the purples. 

Reds should be bare minimum 3.5" diameter (if you're intentionally taking of course, bycatch unavoidable).  I don't harvest the reds except for a seldom one when I'm getting really tired of spending 5 minutes per urchin for barely a nigiri size hahaha, but I take as many purples as I can carry in my cooler every time I go. 

Sure seeing a lot of abalone lately, but I guess that's because they've moved up to shallow reefs in search of food. 

Some pics from last night, these guys were small, I just raked like 20 of them at dusk.  After a year of harvesting purples I'm starting to finally understand roughly what to look for in terms of predicting quality and size and firmness.