Hāwa'e

" Hāwa'e kai nui "

Hāwa'e, full of liquid! - Hāwa'e suggests a useless person.

('Olelo No'eau 498)

Hāwa'e are found in tidepools to about 50 ft. deep. It grows to about 5 inches with short spines growing in 5 double rows from the top of the animal to the bottom where the mouth is. The spines are pointy but not sharp and can be delicately handled without breaking the skin. The hāwa'e can be held but not all urchins can.

It gets it's english name, collector urchin, because it collects rocks, shells, and other bits from the ocean floor on its spines. Small shrimp (Gnathophylloides maneri / Hawaiian name unknown to me) sometime live on Hāwa'e.

Hāwa'e can be eaten but some areas with an abundance of other urchins may not have harvested the hāwa'e as a primary food source. The "meat" is actually reproductive glands (egg and sperm sacks) making it a seasonal food, eaten when the animal is reproducing or "fat." I have witnessed hāwa'e being "fat" once during the fall season on the leeward side of the Big Island, but have not harvested throughout the year to notice a second or third reproductive season.