Sea Urchin Nipples (or, “Sally’s Big Night”) by Jane Tanfei
(topic suggested by @gunthatshootsennui)
Sally Sea Urchin woke up early one evening, stretched her branched tentacles, and headed out for some breakfast. She was going about her sea urchin day in her own sea urchin way, gorging on algae and chewing through rocks, when she sensed a movement nearby. Moving her tube feet as quickly as she could, she scuttled toward a large rock outcropping to investigate.
As she approached, the movement became recognizable. She knew it was a mussel. She hadn’t had a mussel in at least two days, and just the thought of one made her mouth-apparatus empty in anticipation. Sally slowed down, letting the ocean current silently take her body closer to that delicious morsel of mussel that was waiting for her on the ocean floor.
Calling to the Urchin Gods, Sally summoned as much energy as possible for her attack. Spinning ruthlessly, she sped toward the mussel with tentacles spread and all five jaws open wide. She devoured the mussel, crunching its shell to a pulp before savoring the tasty meat within.
Pleased with herself, Sally decided to do some ocean exploration while waiting for the mussel to properly digest. She meandered past the rock outcropping, taking in the changes in the water temperature and light as she went along.
All at once, she began to feel peculiar. She stopped scuttling for a second, not understanding this new sensation. She felt as if her interambulacral regions were quivering and moving of their own accord. She felt a small amount of pain, and then shuddered as she felt her body begin to swell.
Within moments, each of her five gonads squeezed and shuddered in unison. Her body pulsed with the movement of the gonads. Sally realized that this new sensation wasn’t entirely unpleasant. She reveled in the feeling, excited by this strange event. She felt her sea urchin nipples rise to the sea and the feeling of excitement crested.
As quickly as it started, the sensation left her. Sally felt strangely empty, yet not in the least lonely. She stretched her spines to shake off her confusion and found not one but thousands of tiny bits of herself floating in the water nearby. Sally was shocked. She scuttled around in circles, collecting as many of the tiny Sally things as she could and keeping them as close to her skin as possible.
Unsure of what to do, she began to slowly shuffle toward home – afraid she would lose her Sally bits if she rolled on her spines. She sensed a movement nearby. Sally turned toward it, ready to defend herself and her Sally bits against any predator. She rushed toward the movement and stopped herself just short of colliding into the moving being. It was another sea urchin.
With much relief, Sally moved closer to the other urchin, intending to inspect him. In her haste, she forgot to hold onto her Sally bits. Some of them began to float away. Panicked, Sally silently prayed to her ancestors that the other sea urchin would sense her plight. Sally began to move again, trying to capture the fast-moving Sally bits.
The other sea urchin became agitated at this. He began spinning slowly, turning to and fro as if confused. His body started to pulse and shake, his spines swinging wildly through the water. Sally, desperate to catch the Sally bits, didn’t notice until the water began to feel unusually warm and uncomfortably thick. She turned toward the other urchin – the water was warmest right next to him. Fearing for his safety, she touched the other urchin, only to find his sea urchin nipples open – exuding something into the water.
Sally knew what was happening – the other urchin was trying to steal her Sally bits. Angered, she reached for another Sally bit and found that it was covered with tiny pieces of the other urchin. Offended by the impudence of the other urchin, Sally gathered the rest of her Sally bits and scuttled away.
Safe under a rock, Sally tried to clean her Sally bits by sweeping them through the water. But, the pieces of the other urchin would not be removed, no matter how much waving she did. Dejected, Sally put her Sally bits close to her skin and gathered her courage to leave the rock again. She waited awhile, testing the water for movement. When she could find no evidence of the other sea urchin, she scuttled out as fast as her tube legs could carry her.
Feeling confident, Sally decided it was time to find some more algae, to settle the digestion and calm the nerve ring. She wandered about for hours, tasting different types of algae, nearly forgetting the events of the night. Emerging from a small cave, Sally realized it was almost sunrise – time to go to sleep. She turned her weary spines toward home.
Almost to her rock, Sally’s body began to slow. Despite her best efforts, she could not move any further. Her skin started to feel very queer, like it was weighed down with squirming sand crabs. The Sally bits – that other urchin must have poisoned them…
In terror, Sally began to shake her spines and contract her skin in an effort to remove whatever was attacking her. She twisted and twirled and shook and shuddered until, finally, she felt the heaviness break away.
Sally moved away from the mass of Sally bits, glad to be rid of such filth. Yet, something kept her from scuttling away entirely. The movement of the object in the water was awkward, yet familiar. Curious, she moved a few spines in the direction of the writhing mass of Sally bits, feeling around for answers.
Suddenly, it all became clear.
The Sally bits weren’t just pieces of Sally – they were alive. They were larvae. They were her larvae.
Sally was a mother.
Overcome with surprise and happiness, Sally reached all of her spines toward the larvae, ushering them gently toward her rock. She remembered being a larvae – what it was like to be so small and hungry and aimless. She pushed them as far as she could push them under the rock, her spines twitching with excitement. She’d show them next evening where to find the best algae this side of the reef, she would.
Sally used her spines to push some sand up around the edges of her rock for protection, just in case that nasty old sea urchin came by to try to steal her larvae again.
Sally scuttled under her rock for the night.
She bristled in contentment, sending waves of water gently over her new larvae, and went to sleep.
Yes, this had been a good night.