Shallow-water reef ophiuroids (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) of Réunion (Mascarene Islands), with biogeographic considerations
Author
Boissin, Emilie
Author
Hoareau, Thierry B.
Author
Paulay, Gustav
Author
Bruggemann, J. Henrich
text
Zootaxa
2016
4098
2
273
297
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4098.2.4
13fb3418-fb61-410f-9ce2-93099f5344d7
1175-5326
255654
D446E3D3-5B5B-431A-80E6-1318638DFA27
Ophiocoma scolopendrina
(LAMARCK, 1816)
(REU-3652,
Fig. 4
d,
KC759913
)
Material.
1 spm, St. 5; 7 spms, St. 8
Remarks.
This species is strictly intertidal (
Fontaine 1965
) and has longer arms than other members of the ‘
SCOLOPENDRINA
GROUP’. An abundant species on reef flats at Etang Salé, where they are found hidden under rocks. Only the arms are visible as they sweep the air-water interface using an unusual feeding mode: surface-film feeding at low tide (
Oak & Scheibling 2006
). This species is distinguishable from others of the ‘
SCOLOPENDRINA
GROUP’ by its colouration: brown and variegated with a yellowish ventral side, whereas other species display a black/dark ventral side. COI sequence data shows little genetic differentiation across the range of this species (Hoareau
et al.
2013). Abundance: 2.
Distribution.
Common across the IWP (
Clark & Rowe 1971
); recently reported from
Réunion
(
Stöhr
et al.
2008
) and already known from
Mauritius
(de
Loriol 1893a
).