Roller, cushion and knobbed starfish
Roller, cushion and knobbed starfish | ||||||||||||
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Oreasteridae | ||||||||||||
Fisher , 1911 |
The family of the roller, pillow, and knobbed starfish (Oreasteridae) contains large, heavily armored and voluminous forms that have a reticulate skeleton. They are often clearly patterned with strong, brightly colored spikes and warts.
The approximately 20 genera live mainly in the Indo-Pacific . Only two species of the genus Oreaster live in the Atlantic .
Many Oreasteridae feed on microorganisms, others are scavengers or food specialists . The pillow starfish of the genus Culcita eat polyps from hard corals . In most species, the stomach is everted when they eat and the food is digested outside the body.
Since they look very decorative even when dead, they are often collected, dried, and then sold to tourists. Many species such as the net pillow star ( Oreaster reticulatus ) from the Caribbean have therefore become very rare.
Systematics
- Genus Choriaster
- Starfish roll ( Choriaster granulatus ) (Lütken, 1869)
- Genus Culcita
- Large pillow star ( Culcita novaeguineae ) Müller & Troschel, 1842
- Spiked pillow star ( Culcita schmideliana ) (Retzius, 1805)
- Genus Halityle
- Halityle regularis Fisher, 1913
- Genus Nectria
- Genus Nidorellia
- Chocolate starfish ( Nidorellia armata ) Gray, 1840
- Genus Oreaster Müller & Troschel, 1842
- Oreaster occidentalis
- Reticulated pillow star ( Oreaster reticulatus ) (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Genus Pentaceraster Döderlein, 1916
- Pentaceraster affinis (Müller & Troschel, 1840)
- Pentaceraster alveolatus (Perrier, 1875)
- Panamanian pimple starfish ( Pentaceraster cumingi ) (Gray, 1840)
- Green pimple starfish ( Pentaceraster mammillatus ) (Audouin, 1826)
- Pentaceraster obtusatus
- Pentaceraster regulus (Müller & Troschel, 1842)
- Red pimple starfish ( Pentaceraster tuberculatus ) (Müller & Troschel, 1842)
- Genus Pentaster
- Pentaster obtusatus (Bory de St. Vincent, 1827)
- Genus Protoreaster
- Protoreaster alveolatus
- Linck's Walzenseestern ( Protoreaster linckii ) Blainville, 1834
- Gnarled sea star ( Protoreaster nodosus ) (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Protoreaster regulus
literature
- Svein A. Fossa / Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium Volume 6 , Schmettkamp Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-928819-18-6
- Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volumes 3, 4 + 5, Mergus-Verlag, Melle
- Helmut Schuhmacher / Johannes Hinterkircher: Lower marine animals . BLV Verlagsgesellschaft 1996, ISBN 3-405-14854-5