Novodinia americana (Verrill 1880)

Novodinia americana (Verrill, 1880)

Brisinga americana Verrill, 1880:139; 1894:279; 1895:211.

MERISTICS.—Arms = 15–20, R = 350 mm, r = 12–16 mm, R/r = 22–29/1, length of gonadal region = 45–50 mm, length of longest arm spine = 10 mm.

DIAGNOSIS.—[80.b] Madreporite of moderate size, raised well above plane of arms; [100.a] madreporite button-like, channeled; [110.b] abactinal disc plates tumid, irregularly rounded; [130.a] abactinal disc plates bearing 2–4 small acute spinelets; [170] number of arms 15–20; [205.c] gonadal region of arms 45–50 mm long, high, inflated, laterally compressed, rest of arm depressed and tapering gradually to slender tip; [210.g] costal plates of gonadal region of arm cruciform, between costae membrane embedded with flat, heavy, bizarrely shaped imbricating plates; [220.a] abactinal arm plates imbricate, beyond gonadal region, which ends abruptly, arms covered with plateless membrane; [240.b] most costal plates bearing single short acicular spine; [280.b] marginal plates large relative to adambulacrals; [290.g] marginals cruciform; [300.b] one marginal to each adambulacral on short portion of arm before gonadal inflation, beyond occurring only about every fifth adambulacral; [310.a] marginals unarmed proximally, just beyond highest part of gonadal inflation marginals bear single stout acicular spine, beyond gonadal region marginals bear a transverse series of about 5 long acicular spines; [330.c] adambulacral plates discoidal; [350] number of furrow spines 0; [390.c] form of subambulacral spines long, stout, truncate; [400.a] first 2–4 adambulacrals united interradially; [420.b] ambulacral plates small, delicate; [430.f] head of ambulacrals not much enlarged, discoidal; [440.b] ambulacrals rather crowded; [470.b] tubefeet very heavy; [480.c] mouth plates large; [490.a,c] mouth plates triangular, pair forming broadly rounded T-shape, oral margin broad, in contact across ambulacral groove; [500] number of preoral spines per mouth plate 3; [510.a] preoral spines small, acicular; [520.b] preoral spines lateral; [530] number of lateral oral spines per mouth plate 1–3; [540.a] lateral oral spines small, similar to preoral spines, acicular; [550.b] lateral oral spines lateral; [560] suboral spines absent; [620.a,b] pedicellariae on both surfaces of disc and arms; [630.a] all pedicellariae small.

COLOR.—“Pale orange-red in alcohol when received, soon fading to whitish…living, probably bright red.” (Verrill, 1880:139).

TYPE.—USNM 33038 (holotype), Gloucester Fisheries Donation, Banquereau Bank, 320 m.

MATERIAL EXAMINED.—Holotype; 1 specimen, Gloucester Fisheries Donation, Banquereau Bank, 732 m; 3 specimens, Pillsbury Sta 776, off Colombia, 12°13.3′N, 72°50′W, 408–576 m.

DISTRIBUTION.—Nova Scotia to Colombia, 320–732 m.

Novodina americana is a species of starfish found of the coast of Greenland. A 2018 study of deep-water starfish species found that N. americana was both bioluminescent and, unexpectedly for an inhabitant of the aphotic zone, to have eyes that have among the highest resolutions found this far among starfish.