Ophiolepis paucispina
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Ordo: Ophiurida
Familia: Ophiolepididae
Genus: Ophiolepis
Name
Ophiolepis paucispina (Say, 1825) – Wikispecies link – Pensoft Profile
Description
Disk circular (dd = 2.74 to 3.55 mm). Covered by large scales, and surrounded by smaller ones of similar size. Central primary plate circular, well defined, surrounded by five small primary plates, and intercalated by two smaller scales (Fig. 3g). Radial shield triangular, separated distally by three large scales disposed in a triangle. Ventral interradius covered by scales, slightly smaller and narrower than dorsal scales (Fig. 3h). Bursal slits long and narrow. Oral shields pentagonal, elongate, distal margin convex (Fig. 3i). Adoral shields broad, enlarged laterally. Four oral papillae on each side of jaw angle, the three proximal of which are pointed and subequal, the last one being longest and broadest (Fig. 3i). Dorsal arm plate fan-shaped (Fig. 3j). Arm segments with accessory dorsal plate, except near the tip (Fig. 3j). Ventral arm plate pentagonal, with lateral margins concave and distal margin rounded. Two tentacle scales oval, outher one larger. Two arm spines small (Fig. 3l).
Distribution
Bermuda, the Bahamas, Florida, Caribbean Sea, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, and off Africa (Hendler et al. 1995[1], Laguarda-Figueras et al. 2009[2], Alvarado 2011[3], Benavides-Serrato et al. 2011[4], Barboza and Borges 2012[5]). In Brazil, from Alagoas (Lima et al. 2011[6]), and Bahia (Abrolhos) (Magalhães et al. 2005[7]). Intertidal to 37 m in depth (Laguarda-Fiqueras et al. 2009[2]). In this study they were found for the first time in the State of Paraíba, between 30 and 33 m.
Remarks
This species is known from shallow, sandy reef flats, mangrove, lagoonal, and seagrass environments, under coral rubble on sand, in calcareous algae such as Halimeda, and among plant debris (Hendler et al. 1995[1]). Ophiolepis paucispina is an oviviparous and simultaneous hermaphroditic species (Byrne 1989[8], Hendler et al. 1995[1]) that broods up to 41 embyos in the genital bursae (Hendler 1979a[9]). In the examined specimens the shape of the adoral shields varied from fan-shape to pentagonal and the number of papillae varied from 3 to 4. It is difficult to separate young individuals of this species from its congener Ophiolepis impressa. Yet, the presence of acessory dorsal plates along the entire arm and only two arm spines in Ophiolepis paucispina are the most reliable differential characters to distinguish these two species. Personal observations suggest that this is a rare species along the littoral of the State of Paraíba.
Taxon Treatment
- Gondim, A; Alonso, C; Dias, T; Manso, C; Christoffersen, M; 2013: A taxonomic guide to the brittle-stars (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea) from the State of Paraíba continental shelf, Northeastern Brazil ZooKeys, 307: 45-96. doi
Other References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Hendler G, Miller J, Pawson D, Kier P (1995) Sea stars, sea urchins and allies: echinoderms of Florida and the Caribbean. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 390 pp.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Laguarda-Figueras A, Hernández-Herrejón L, Solís-Marín F, Durán-González A (2009) Ofiuroideos del Caribe Mexicano y Golfo de México. Conabio, ICMyL-UNAM, México, 249 pp.
- ↑ Alvarado J (2011) Echinoderm diversity in the Caribbean Sea. Marine Biodiversity 41: 261-285. doi: 10.1007/s12526-010-0053-0
- ↑ Benavides-Serrato M, Borrero-Pérez G, Dias S (2011) Equinodermos del Caribe colombiano I: Crinoidea, Asteroidea y Ophiuroidea. Serie de Publicaciones Especiales de Invemar, 22. Santa Marta, 384pp.
- ↑ Barboza C, Borges M (2012) A checklist of the extant species of ophiuroids (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from Brazilian waters. Zootaxa 3447: 1-21.
- ↑ Lima M, Correia M, Sovierzoski H, Manso C (2011) New records of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from shallow waters off Maceió, State of Alagoas, Brazil. Marine Biodiversity Records 4: 1-10. doi: 10.1017/S175526721100090X
- ↑ Magalhães W, Martins L, Alves O (2005) Inventário dos Echinodermata do Estado da Bahia. Brazilian Journal of Aquatic Science and Technology 9: 61-65.
- ↑ Byrne M (1989) Ultrastructure of the Ovary and Oogenesis in the Ovoviviparous Ophiuroid Ophiolepis paucispina (Echinodermata). Biological Bulletin 176: 79-95.
- ↑ Hendler G (1979a) Sex-reversal and viviparity in Ophiolepis kieri, n. sp., with notes on viviparous brittlestars from the Caribbean (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 92: 783-795.
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