Comanthus suavia Rowe, Hoggett, Birtles, and Vail, 1986

Obuchi, Masami, 2020, Shallow-water Comatulids (Echinodermata: Crinoidea: Comatulida) of the Ashizuri-Uwakai Sea, Shikoku Island, Southern Japan, Species Diversity 25, pp. 309-328 : 313

7. Comanthus suavia Rowe, Hoggett, Birtles, and Vail, 1986 [Japanese name: Nagare-koashi-umishida]

Morphology. Centrodorsal thin, pentagonal, 2.3–2.7 mm across, at almost same level of radials; polar area flat, more than 0.9 times of centrodorsal diameter. No cirri, but for few obsolete scars; young specimen possessing IV weak cirri composed of 13 segments. Radials exposed, length about 50% of centrodorsal diameter; subradial clefts distinct. IBr series composed of 2 ossicles, and II–VBr of mostly 4(3+4), rarely 2. Arms up to 42; anterior arms up to 210 mm long, 2.0–2.3 times longer than posterior ones; brachials shorter than broad, with distal ends everted; first arm syzygy at br 3+4; distal intersyzygial intervals 4. Comparative pinnule length PD>P 1 >>P 2 <P 3 <P 4 =P 5; PD and P 1 enlarged. Terminal combs present as far as P 9–11 at intervals, consisting of 7–13 segments; teeth paired; primary teeth confluent with lateral margins of pinnule segments, curved inward, basally contacted with adjacent one; terminal segment with discrete large tooth; proximal segment with transverse saucershaped tooth. Disk five to six times as wide as centrodorsal.

Posture. Dwelling within cracks or crevices, or between stony corals, with anterior arms in multidirectional posture.

Coloration in life. Arms striped with white brachials and red-purple or black articulations; pinnules aborally white and laterally red-purple or black, often with yellow tips.

Distribution. Ashizuri-Uwakai Sea (present study) to Great Barrier Reef ( Rowe et al. 1986).

Remarks. This species can be identified by the absence of cirri, the restricted distribution of combed pinnules to the middle of arms. This species was previously recorded from the Ashizuri-Uwakai Sea by the author ( Obuchi 2013). However, reinvestigation revealed that the specimens reported there differed from ones identified here as C. suavia in the number of the cirri, the extent of exposure of radials, and coloration. They were not identical to any other congeners and appeared to be undescribed. Thus, they were not listed in the specimens examined here.