Temnopleurus toreumaticus ( Leske 1778 )

Yiu, Sam King Fung & Mah, Christopher L., 2024, New Ecological Observations and Occurrence for Asteroidea and Echinoidea in Hong Kong, Zootaxa 5526 (1), pp. 1-69 : 24

Temnopleurus toreumaticus ( Leske 1778)

FIGURE 14

Comments

A species identified by the possession of a central or subcentral anal opening, an indistinct suranal plate, spines with distinct banding which lack a dark base. Pits of horizontal sutures deep with sharp edges ( Liao & Clark 1995).

Mortensen (1943) noted gut contents including coral and plant material. Saravanan & Jawahar (2022) performed seagrass and seaweed feeding preference experiments comparing this species with Salmacis . This species has found significant usage as a model species for developmental biologists (e.g. Kitazawa et al. 2009, 2014)

Occurrence/Distribution

Hong Kong, 3–20 m.

Outside Hong Kong, widely occurring throughout the Indo-Pacific, from the East African coast to the Marshall Islands.Temperate waters around eastern China and Japan, Australia and India. 10–22 m (below 100 m in Japan, following Tsuchiya et al. (2009) (other info follows Clark & Liao 1995).

Figures

FIGURE 14. Temnopleurus torematicus. In situ observation. Photographer: Sam King Fung Yiu.