Linckia
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| Linckia | ||||||||||
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Linckia multifora |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Linckia | ||||||||||
| Nardo , 1834 |
Linckia is a genus of starfish that occurs mainly in the Indo-Pacific region. They have remarkable regeneration abilities and can defend themselves well against predators. Linckia reproduces sexually, but can also reproduce asexually by severing individual arms, from which a whole starfish emerges. This leads to the formation of asymmetrical starfish, with a large arm facing four smaller, newly formed ones. This shape is called "comet shape".
The genus Linckia is named after the German pharmacist and naturalist Johann Heinrich Linck (1674–1734). He had dealt intensively with starfish and wrote the first scientific monograph on it.
distribution
The genus is distributed worldwide in the tropical marine regions. It lives on coral reefs and is common in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific . Linckia bouvieri and Linckia nodosa occur in the Atlantic , the remaining species in the Pacific.
Systematics
Several groups within the genus Linckia can be clearly distinguished genetically - Linckia columbiae , Linckia bouvieri and two clades within Linckia guildingi . With Linckia laevigata and Linckia multifora , the delimitation is more complicated, they form a common clade that probably falls into three different groups. This means that several more cryptic species could be spun off in the future .
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) lists 8 Linckia species:
- Linckia bouvieri Perrier , 1875
- Linckia columbiae Gray , 1840
- Linckia gracilis Liao , 1985
- Linckia guildingi Gray , 1840
- Blue starfish ( Linckia laevigata ( Linnaeus , 1758))
- Comet star ( Linckia multifora ( Lamarck , 1816))
- Linckia nodosa Perrier , 1875
- Linckia tyloplax H.L. Clark , 1914
Research history
The genus was in 1834 in Isis by Oken , De Asteriis , by Giovanni Domenico Nardo under the name Linkia first described . John Edward Gray corrected the name to the correct spelling Linckia in 1840 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Heinrich Linck : De stellis marinis liber singularis . Leipzig 1733
- ^ ST Williams: Species boundaries in the starfish genus Linckia. Marine Biology, 136, 1, pp. 137-148, 2000
- ^ MarineSpecies.org - Linckia Nardo, 1834
- ^ Giovanni Domenico Nardo (1834): De Asteriis. Isis from Oken. 1834, pp. 716–717 ( online )
- ^ John Edward Gray, A Synopsis of the Genera and Species of the Class Hypostoma (Asterias, Linnmus). 1840 in The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany, and geology. ( Online )
Web links
- ITIS taxonomic information about Linckia
- Hawaii's Sea Creatures (info from hard-copy book)