Marine Advisor Susan McBride has been conducting nutritional research on red sea urchins for three years. This research began as a result of questions from the sea urchin industry about the feasibility of sea urchin aquaculture. Divers and processors are interested sea urchin aquaculture as possible methods of increased industry yield for several years. Experiments have compared gonad production, feeding rates, total organic absorption, and feeding efficiency using natural and algal diets, temperatures, ration, and protein concentration as treatments. Histological analysis of the gonads is also a component of the research and increases understanding of gonad production in an aquaculture setting.