Tremaster mirabilis Verrill, 1879

Mah, Christopher L., 2024, Two New Taxa of Goniasteridae (Asteroidea, Echinodermata) and Noteworthy Observations of Deep-Sea Asteroidea by the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the North and Tropical Atlantic, Zootaxa 5432 (4), pp. 461-508 : 469-470

Tremaster mirabilis Verrill, 1879

FIGURE 3B

Tremaster mirabilis Verrill, 1879: 201 ; 1885: 638; 1895: 141; Dons 1929: 98; Blacker 1957: 34; Nesis 1960: 1886; Jangoux 1982b: 152; Leeling 1984: 274; Clark & Downey 1992: 196; Branch et al. 1993: 42, 64; Clark & McKnight 2001: 163; O’Loughlin & Waters 2004: 36; Stampanato & Jangoux 2004: 4; Gale et al. 2013: 32, 33, 35; Clark & Bowden 2015: 169, 171; Ringvold & Andersen 2016: 25.

Tremaster laevis H.L. Clark, 1941: 53–55 .

Tremaster novaecaledoneae Jangoux, 1982b: 152 ; A.M. Clark 1993: 228.

Tremaster mirabilis novaecaledoneae Leeling 1984: 274 .

Diagnosis

Body pentagonal to sub pentagonal, strongly arched. Arms five, short, confluent with disc. Abactinal plates imbricate, with variable accessories ranging from large conical to small granuliform spinelets. Actinal spines single, tall, slender, and spatulate. Marginal plates imbricate, indistinct on lateral surface. Actinal plates in oblique transverse series, each with a large, single spine. Four rows of tube feet. Superambulacral, superactinal plates absent. Interradius very wide, thin, supported by interior distal keels on actinal plates meeting abactinal plates. Five plated ducts forming distinct channel between abactinal and actinal interradial openings. Modified from O’Loughlin & Waters (2004 and Clark & Downey (1992)

Comments

This species has recently been reviewed ( Mah 2023b) and is distributed widely in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. Atlantic Tremaster mirabilis were observed in situ, feeding on gorgonians ( Gale et al. 2013).

Occurrence

Atlantic. In western Atlantic from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, to south of Cuba, including Whaley Seamount, Nygren Canyon, St. Croix, Puerto Rico, Gulf of Mexico (South of Okeanos Ridge ). In the northeast Atlantic off central Norway and Arctic from Labrador, southeast Greenland, southeast Iceland, and the Barents Sea.

Also throughout the tropical Pacific and Antarctic/High-Latitude. Ross Sea, Kerguelen and Marion Island, Tristan de Cunha, South Georgia Island (Scotia Sea), Scott Island Bank (South Pacific), Cape Horn, Tierra del Fuego (South Atlantic). Broad depth range: 150–1060 m.

Image Examined

St. Croix, Puerto Rico, approximately 858 m.

EX1502L3_IMG_20150427T173941Z_ROVHD_ASR_AUD.jpg

Figures

FIGURE 3. Tremaster (Asterinidae) A. Tremaster sp. Kai Ridge, 1824 m. Arrows indicating gonopores. B. Tremaster mirabilis, Puerto Rico.