Hippasteria Gray 1840

Hippasteria is one of 70 genera of sea star in the diverse family Goniasteridae.^[1]

Description and characteristics

These sea stars are regular, five-armed starfishes, with a large and flattened central disc. Most of the species in this genus live in deep seas, where they seem to be predators of deep sea coral and cnidarians.^[2]

The species Hippasteria phrygiana may be one of the most widely distributed species : it is present in the 3 main oceanic basins.^[3]

List of species

According to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), the genus Hippasteria is composed of the following twelve species:^[1]

• Hippasteria californica Fisher, 1905
• Hippasteria falklandica Fisher, 1940
• Hippasteria heathi Fisher, 1905
• Hippasteria imperialis Goto, 1914
• Hippasteria leiopelta Fisher, 1910
• Hippasteria lepidonotus (Fisher, 1905)
• Hippasteria magellanica Perrier, 1888
• Hippasteria mcknighti Mah, Neill, Eleaume & Foltz 2014
• Hippasteria muscipula Mah, Neill, Eleaume & Foltz 2014
• Hippasteria nozawai Goto, 1914
• Hippasteria phrygiana (Parelius, 1768)
• Hippasteria tiburoni Mah, Neill, Eleaume & Foltz 2014

• 

  Hippasteria imperialis

• 

  Hippasteria mcknighti

• 

  Hippasteria muscipula

• 

  Hippasteria phrygiana attacked by Solaster dawsoni

• 

  Hippasteria tiburoni

Bibliography

• Mah, Christopher L.; Neill, K.; Eléaume, Marc; Foltz, D. (2014). "New Species and global revision of Hippasteria (Hippasterinae: Goniasteridae; Asteroidea; Echinodermata)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 171 (2): 422–456. doi:10.1111/zoj.12131.

References