It lives along the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean extending from Ensenada, Mexico, to British Columbia, Canada.

[1] This sea urchin species is deep purple in color, and lives in lower inter-tidal and nearshore sub-tidal communities.

[5] The initial discovery of three distinct eukaryotic DNA-dependent RNA polymerases was made using S. purpuratus as a model organism.

Orthologs to human diseases have led scientists to investigate potential therapeutic uses for the sequences found in Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.

For instance, in 2012, scientists at the University of St Andrews began investigating the "2A" viral region in the S. purpuratus genome[7][8] which may be useful for Alzheimer's disease and cancer research.

[11] The sea urchin is the first animal with a sequenced genome that (1) is a free-living, motile marine invertebrate; (2) has a bilaterally organized embryo but a radial adult body plan; (3) has the endoskeleton and water vascular system found only in echinoderms; and (4) has a nonadaptive immune system that is unique in the enormous complexity of its receptor repertoire.

There were genes identified for Biomineralization that were not counterparts of the typical human vertebrate variety SCCPs, and encode for transmembrane proteins like P16.

[13] Increasing carbon dioxide concentrations affect the epigenome, gene expression, and phenotype of the purple sea urchin.