Annotated species list of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, with new records Author Fatemi, Yaser Author Stöhr, Sabine text Zootaxa 2019 2019-12-13 4711 1 77 106 journal article 24630 10.11646/zootaxa.4711.1.3 b79b7881-13e6-45d7-bec6-3105c1847cf5 1175-5326 3573466 93D1AB7B-26C2-427D-88A7-5D416E547BE0 Ophiothela venusta ( de Loriol, 1900 ) Figs 8 G–K, 9 Ophiocnemis venusta Loriol, 1900: 81 pl. 8, figs 2, 3. Ophiothela venusta — Clark & Rowe 1971: 117 . Material examined: Persian Gulf, Iran , Bustaneh, intertidal, on gorgonians ( Subergorgia suberosa (Pallas, 1766)) , hand collected, May 2018 , collector Yaser Fatemi, 32 spms, 2.8–6.5 mm dd [SMNH-178937]. Habitat: Associated with gorgonians on subtidal sand, grass bed and artificial structures (e.g. shipwrecks), probably always epizoic, intertidal and 1–32 m ( Price 1981 , 1983 ; Jones 1986 ; Peyghan et al. 2018 ; present study) ( Fig. 2B ). Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman : Bushehr (2), Jubail (19), Ras Tanura (24), Tarut Bay (25), Manifa (29), Kuwait (ibid.). Indian Ocean: East Africa, Madagascar and East India ( Clark & Rowe 1971 ), South Africa ( Clark 1974 ), Madagascar ( Cherbonnier & Guille 1978 ), Seychelles ( Clark 1980 ). Remarks: The variable morphology of this species was treated in detail by Cherbonnier & Guille (1978) and by Peyghan et al . (2018) . Specimens with regenerating arms and pentamerous body symmetry are here assigned to O . venusta ( Fig. 8 G–K) but may belong to the unidentified species of Ophiothela or to O . danae . The disc granules vary in size, with some individuals having uniformly small granules, others presenting larger granules in the disc center and in the interradii ( Fig. 9 H–J). Records of O . venusta from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by Sadhukan & Raghunathan (2011) were based on a misidentified Ophiocoma sp., probably O . scolopendrina (likewise their Dougaloplus echinatus is Ophiocoma sp.).