Astropecten Gray 1840

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 : 41

Astropecten Gray 1840

Comments

A widely occurring genus of Astropectinidae , including approximately 100 known, extant species, present in primarily shallow habitats in cold-water, temperate and tropical settings in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. Astropecten species are documented as primarily infaunal predators ( Jangoux 1982) occurring partially buried in loosely consolidated sediments, swallowing various mollusks present in these habitats as prey.

We confirm three species in Hong Kong of the seven species listed by Liao & Clark (1995) as occurring in south China waters. Two of these species, Astropecten kagoshimensis deLoriol and Astropecten umbrinus Grube were listed as being of “dubious provenance.”