The small Blue Mountains town of Kurrajong seems an odd place for a sea urchin museum; being almost 80 kilometres from any Sydney beach, but here, at the end of an unassuming cul-de-sac, you’ll find a collection of over 20,000 expertly curated specimens, painstakingly prepared and displayed by local sea urchin expert Ashley Miskelly.
Childhood photographs of Ashley are replete with the tiny, spiky sea creatures, pointing to a lifetime of passion. Since then, Ashley has become an international expert on urchins, discovering new species, publishing books, contributing to scientific papers, all while running one of the world’s only dedicated sea urchin museums; all without ever undertaking any formal study.
Step inside Ashley’s weird world of sea urchins.
✍️ Angela Heathcote
🎥 Patrick Wiecks
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Comments
3 responses to “The weird world of sea urchins hooked Ashley as a kid. Now, he's the expert | ABC Australia”
Love ya work Ash. I love his old school passion for nature and independence and willingness to do the dirty work. In fact he's a multi-skilled one man sea urchin industry – the best. I admire that he's not formally educated in these things but the people in the ivory towers need him because he's the guru and explorer who just gets out there and discovers what is real, and who doesn't waste time on extraneous diversions. And his enthusiasm for sea critters is quite contageous. Keep it up mate.
Totally fascinating subject and video. Really great story of passion and expertise.
fascinating creatures. truly enjoyed watching the video