Ophidiaster guildingi Gray 1840

Ophidiaster guildingi Gray, 1840

Figure 6

Ophidiaster guildingii Gray, 1840: 284 [type locality: St Thomas, Virgin Islands, viz. Clark & Downey, 1992]; Hendler et al., 1995: 79, fig. 22.

Ophidiaster guildingi — Benavides-Serrato et al., 2011: 176.

Trindade specimens. Brazil, Espírito Santo, Trindade Island, Ponta Norte, 20°29’18.7”S, 29°20’18.3”W, 17.vii.2013, 12.8 m: 1 spm R=32, r=5 (MZUSP 1578); 4.i.2014, 0 m: 1 spm R=17, r=2 (MZUSP 1554). Enseada das Orelhas, 20°29’40.2”S, 29°20’32.9”W, 30.vi.2012, 14.4 m: 1 spm R=30, r=4 (MZUSP 1571); 7.vi.2013, 14 m: 1 spm R=12, r=3 (MZUSP 1553); 5.v.2014, 14.7 m: 1 spm R=37, r=5 (MZUSP 1572); 8.i.2015, 8.9 m: 1 spm R=62, r=5 (MZUSP 1570). Ponta do Monumento, 20°30’10.3”S, 29°20’36.1”W, 16.vi.2012, 12.1 m: 1 spm R=33, r=4 (MZUSP 1556); 13.vii.2012, 8.1 m: 1 spm R=37, r=4 (MZUSP 1557). SECON-ECIT, 20°30’20”S, 29°18’43”W, 18.vii.2013, 12.2 m: 1 spm R=29, r=5 (MZUSP 1565); 14.v.2014, 10 m: 1 spm R=38, r=5 (MZUSP 1564). Praia da Calheta, 20°30’26”S, 29°18’44”W, 18.vi.2012, 12 m: 1 spm R=12, r=2 (MZUSP 1567); 14.vii.2013, 4 m: 1 spm R=54, r=4 (MZUSP 1566). Racha Island, 29°30’26.5”S, 29°20’48”W, 22.vi.2012, 27.1 m: 1 spm R=36, r=4 (MZUSP 1568); 16.vii.2012, 24.9 m: 1 spm R=38, r=5 (MZUSP 1569). Praia do Andrada, 20°30’45.7”S, 29°18’21.9”W, 21.vii.2013, 0 m: 1 spm R=16, r=2 (MZUSP 1552). Enseada dos Portugueses, 20°30’52.3”S, 29°19’15.6”W, 15.vii.2013, 12 m: 1 spm R=24, r=4 (MZUSP 1562); 15.vii.2013, 12 m: 5 spms R=32, r=5; R=40, r=6; R=35, r=4; R=13, r=2; R=9, r=2 (MZUSP 1563); 22.iv.2014, 13.7 m: 1 spm R=34, r=5 (MZUSP 1575); 20.v.2014, 13.1 m: 1 spm R=27, r=3 (MZUSP 1573); 23.x.2014, 12.5 m: 1 spm R=12, r=3 (MZUSP 1574); Farol, 20°30’52”S, 29°19’15”W, 22.iv.2014, 13.7 m: 1 spm R=40, r=6 (MZUSP 1560); 7.vi.2015, 12.6 m: 1 spm R=42, r=5 (MZUSP 1561). Enseada da Cachoeira, Praia do M, 20°30’53.8”S, 29°20’19.2”W, 7.viii.2013, 15 m: 2 spms R=30, r=3; R=25, r=4 (MZUSP 1558); Farrilhões, 20°31’22.4”S, 29°19’52”W, 16.ix.2012, 11.9 m: 1 spm R=46, r=5 (MZUSP 1555); 20.vi.2012, 11.8 m: 1 spm R=19, r=3 (MZUSP 1559). Sul Island, 20°31’32”S, 29°19’28”W, 21.x.2014, 17.8 m: 1 spm R=46, r=6 (MZUSP 1579). Enseada do Lixo, 20°31’33.9”S, 29°19’33.6”W, 22.iv.2014, 14.5 m: 1 spm R=31, r=5 (MZUSP 1577). Enseada do Príncipe, Pedra da Garoupa, 20°31’36”S, 29°18’94”W, 16.vii.2013, 10.4 m: 1 spm R=25, r=3 (MZUSP 1576).

Comparative material. United States: Florida, Monroe County, Tennessee Reef, 24°45’54”N, 80°45’14.4”W, 3.v.2010, 6 m: 1 spm R=26, r=4 (UF–10265). Lesser Antilles, Guadeloupe Island, Malendure, 16°10’27.12”N, 61°46’46.92”W, 7.v.2012, 1 m: 1 spm R=7, r=2 (UF–13618).

Distribution. Circumtropical (Pawson, 1978; Clark & Downey, 1992; Alvarado & Solis-Marin, 2013). Brazil: Bahia, Trindade Island (present study) and Rio Grande do Sul (Tommasi, 1970; Carrera-Rodriguez & Tommasi, 1977; Tommasi & Aron, 1988). Depth range: 0–330 m (Clark & Downey, 1992).

Recognition characters. Small disk in relation to total body size. Five, sometimes four, long, cylindrical arms, constricted at base. Abactinal plates cruciform, imbricated, arranged in regular rows. 5–15 papulae per papular area (Fig. 6D). Lowermost papular area below inferomarginal plates. One row of actinal plates (Fig. 6H). One row of subambulacral spines (Fig. 6F). Space between ambulacral and subambulacral spines covered by large flattened granules. Pedicellariae rare (Clark & Rowe, 1971; Clark & Downey, 1992).

Color in life. Variable over ontogeny. Juveniles are purple, whilst mature specimens range from light yellow to scarlet or reddish brown, more or less stained with blue, purple, brown or coffee (Hendler et al., 1995). The color recorded for the Trindade specimens (Figure 6A) conform to the description of Pawson (1978) for three specimens from Ascension, all mottled light and dark orange-brown.

Habitats. In Trindade, O. guildingi was found between 0 and 24.9 meters depth, frequently found under rocks and, sometimes, along with the sea urchin Eucidaris tribuloides (Lamarck, 1816) (see Martins et al. 2016). Pawson (1978) reported that most of the specimens collected in Ascension Island were on underside of rocks or exposed in the intertidal zone. Many of the Trindade specimens presented arms with autotomy and/or in the process of regeneration.

Comments. Ophidiaster accounts for six Atlantic species: O. alexandri Verrill, 1915 (WA); O. bayeri A. H. Clark, 1948 (WA); O. bullisi (Downey, 1970) (WA); O. guildingi Gray, 1840 (WA, EA; also Ascension); O. ophidianus (Lamarck, 1816) (EA, MED; also Saint Helena), and O. reyssi Sibuet, 1977 (MED, EA) (Clark & Downey, 1992; Mah & Hansson, 2008).

Ophidiaster guildingi has been previously known in the southwestern Atlantic only from Rio Grande do Sul (Tommasi, 1970) and Bahia (Tommasi & Aron, 1988). However, this later record has not been integrated into Gondim’s et al. (2014) checklist.

Ophidiaster guildingi differs from O. alexandri , O. bullisi and O. reyssi in having only one row of actinal plates (Fig. 6H) (versus 3–5 rows in O. alexandri, two rows in O. bullisi, and four rows in O. reyssi). It stands apart from O. bayeri in the presence of only one row of subambulacral spines (Fig. 6F) (versus two rows in O. bayeri), and from O. ophidianus in having 5–15 papulae per papular area (Fig. 6D), whereas in the latter species there are 20 papulae per papular area.

Clark & Downey (1992) stated that O. guildingi and O. ophidianus can be further differentiated by the shape of the subambulacral spines, and the number of pores per papular area (based on specimens with R=6–50 and R=175, O. guildingi and O. ophidianus, respectively). However, we have noticed that such characters vary with the size of the specimens and therefore are not suitable for differentiating between the two species.

Juveniles of O. guildingi and L. guildingi are likely to be confused with one another (Hendler et al. 1995). However, in O. guildingi the position of the lowermost papular areas is below the inferomarginal plates (Fig. 6B), whereas such areas are above the inferomarginal plates in L. guildingi (Clark & Rowe, 1971).

Clark & Downey (1992) reported that pedicellariae were rare in O. guildingi, only occasionally and in large specimens (R>50); no such structures were found in the Trindade specimens.