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Sclerasterias

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Sclerasterias contorta, collection of the National Museum of Natural History (Paris, France).

Sclerasterias is a genus of starfish in the family Asteriidae. Adult individuals have five arms but small, immature individuals have six. This led to the giving of a separate generic name to the juveniles, Hydrasterias, before it was realised that only one genus was involved.[2] These young individuals often undergo fissiparity. The disc splits into two parts, each bearing three arms, and new arms develop on each part to complete the complement of arms. This sometimes happens repeatedly and may be an adaptation to life in cold, deep seas where most of the species are found.[2]

Species

The following species are accepted by the World Register of Marine Species:[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Sclerasterias World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  2. ^ a b Fisher, W. K. (1925-03-01). "Asexual Reproduction in the Starfish, Sclerasterias" (PDF). Biological Bulletin. 48 (3): 171–175. doi:10.2307/1536659. ISSN 0006-3185. JSTOR 1536659. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
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Sclerasterias: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN
Sclerasterias contorta, collection of the National Museum of Natural History (Paris, France).

Sclerasterias is a genus of starfish in the family Asteriidae. Adult individuals have five arms but small, immature individuals have six. This led to the giving of a separate generic name to the juveniles, Hydrasterias, before it was realised that only one genus was involved. These young individuals often undergo fissiparity. The disc splits into two parts, each bearing three arms, and new arms develop on each part to complete the complement of arms. This sometimes happens repeatedly and may be an adaptation to life in cold, deep seas where most of the species are found.

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Habitat

provided by World Register of Marine Species
Known from seamounts and knolls

Reference

Stocks, K. 2009. Seamounts Online: an online information system for seamount biology. Version 2009-1. World Wide Web electronic publication.

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