Sea Urchin Teeth

Sea urchin teeth have many plates of crystalline calcite. The intricate strategy by which which sea urchin teeth develop evolved to fill space and resist fracture. This false-color SEM micrograph shows the forming end of a tooth from Arbacia punctulata. This image is also featured in the APS Physics Images collection.
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Reporters may freely use this image. Credit format: Image courtesy of Pupa Gilbert, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2011).