Mediterranean hair star
| Mediterranean hair star | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mediterranean hair star ( Antedon mediterranea ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Antedon mediterranea | ||||||||||||
| ( Lamarck , 1816) |
The Mediterranean hair star ( Antedon mediterranea ) is the most common representative of the hair star (Comatulida) in the Mediterranean .
features
The Mediterranean hair star reaches a diameter of 20 centimeters and is colored yellow, orange, red or brown. The ten arms result from a division of the original 5 arms and are very fragile. They carry 60 pairs of plumage, which serve to filter plankton out of the water. On the underside of the small body disc sit up to 30 articulated cirrus, which are used to hold on to the ground and to keep moving. They are divided into 20 to 23 members. The Mediterranean hair star can be distinguished from four similar species in the Mediterranean by the number of cirrus and their limbs.
Way of life
Mediterranean hair stars occur in abundance here and there. They can be found on hard substrates exposed to currents , as saddlebacks on gorgonians and sea squirts , on sea grasses, at greater depths (from 50 m) also on soft soils. They hold their arms perpendicular to the current. The trapped microorganisms are transported to the mouth in channel-shaped channels on the arms. Mediterranean hair stars can swim freely by flapping their arms.
Reproduction
Mediterranean hair stars are separate sexes. The eggs are attached to the arm plumage and fertilized there by the sperm floating in the open water. The eggs develop into larvae that live planktonically for a short time, then attach themselves to a hard substrate with a stalk (Pentacrinus stage). After about a month, the fully developed Mediterranean hair star detaches from the stem and changes to non-sessile life.
literature
- Matthias Bergbauer, Bernd Humberg: What lives in the Mediterranean? 1999, Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, ISBN 3-440-07733-0
Web links
- Hansson, H. (2009). Antedon mediterranea (de Lamarck, 1816). Accessed through the World Register of Marine Species [1] (accessed July 8, 2010)