Astroceramus fisheri Koehler 1910

Mah, Christopher L., 2018, New genera, species and occurrence records of Goniasteridae (Asteroidea; Echinodermata) from the Indian Ocean, Zootaxa 4539 (1), pp. 1-116 : 12-13

Astroceramus fisheri Koehler 1910

Koehler 1910: 79, Döderlein 1924: 60; James 1983: 89; Clark 1993: 443 (in checklist); Sastry 2005: 27 (checklist); Parameswaran et al. 2017: 7 (in checklist)

Diagnosis. Body stellate, R/r=2.2–2.5, interradial arcs weakly curved to straight. 12–13 superomarginals bordering abactinal plates on disk at R= 4.7–5.8 cm. Superomarginal plates, seven to eight, abutted over midline over most of arm distance. Actinal surface bare with bivalve pedicellariae, coarse widely spaced granules, one to ten. Furrow spines mostly five, exceptionally six, subambulacral spines thick, blunt, two per plate.

Comments. This species shows close affinities with Astroceramus cadessus Macan 1938 from the Maldives but differs in that it displays a much larger number of superomarginal plates “bounding” the abactinal plate region as well as having fewer furrow spines per plate. This species shares several characters with A. cadessus and given a better understanding of variation, these two species are closely related or possibly synonyms.

Occurrence. Off southern India and Indonesia (Halmahera), 409– 519 m.

Material Examined. None.