Misplaced Pages

Hippasteria muscipula

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Species of starfish

Hippasteria muscipula
Hippasteria muscipula holotype
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Asteroidea
Order: Valvatida
Family: Goniasteridae
Genus: Hippasteria
Species: H. muscipula
Binomial name
Hippasteria muscipula
Mah, Neill, Eleaume & Foltz 2014

Hippasteria muscipula is one of twelve species of deep-sea sea star in the genus Hippasteria, which is in the family Goniasteridae.

Description and characteristics

It is a regular, five-armed sea star, with a large and flattened central disc (as most species in this family). The body is covered by short and stout spines, and characterized by big, fly-trap like pedicellariae. When alive, the central disc is swollen, forming five radial bumps. It is a rather big species, and can grow up to 30 cm across.

This species seems to be a predator of deep sea coral and other cnidarians, and was observed climbing on corals in order to feed.

  • Hippasteria muscipula observed in the deep sea off Hawaii Hippasteria muscipula observed in the deep sea off Hawaii
  • Hippasteria muscipula climbing on coral, probably feeding (with yellow polychaete worms). Hippasteria muscipula climbing on coral, probably feeding (with yellow polychaete worms).

This species remained unknown to science until 2014, but since its description it was observed many times in its environment by deep-sea research missions, such as Okeanos Explorer 2015, off Hawaii.

Its name comes from its impressive pedicellariae, which look like traps of the carnivorous plant called "Venus fly trap" (Dionaea muscipula).

Habitat and repartition

This species lives in the depths of Pacific Ocean, and has been recorded in Hawaii, New Caledonia and New Zealand, between 425 and 1500 meters deep.

Bibliography

  • Mah, Christopher L.; Neill, K.; Eléaume, Marc; Foltz, D. (2014). "New Species and global revision of Hippasteria (Hippasterinae: Goniasteridae; Asteroidea; Echinodermata)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 171 (2): 422–456. doi:10.1111/zoj.12131.

References

  1. ^ Mah, Christopher L. "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Hippasteria muscipula Mah, Neill, Eleaume & Foltz 2014". Marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  2. ^ Mah, Christopher L. (2015-09-01). "Deep Sea Hawaii CONTINUES!! Okeanos Explorer Leg 3 BEGINS!!". The Echinoblog.
  3. ^ Mah, Christopher L. (2014-06-10). "The Hippest Post you Know! New Hippasteria species!". The Echinoblog.
  4. Mah, Christopher L. (2013-09-16). "Goniasterid Starfish LOVE to eat Octocorals!". The Echinoblog.
  5. Mah, Christopher L.; Neill, K.; Eléaume, Marc; Foltz, D. (2014). "New Species and global revision of Hippasteria (Hippasterinae: Goniasteridae; Asteroidea; Echinodermata)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 171 (2): 422–456. doi:10.1111/zoj.12131.
Taxon identifiers
Hippasteria muscipula
Categories: