Goniasteridae
| Goniasteridae Temporal range: Jurassic - recent
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| Pentagonaster duebeni | |
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| Family: | Goniasteridae Forbes, 1841
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Goniasteridae are the largest family of sea stars, included in the ordo Valvatida.
Description
Goniasteridae are usually middle-sized sea stars with a characteristic double range of marginal plates bordering the disk and arms. Most of them have 5 arms, often short and triangular, around a broad central disc ; lots of species are pentagonal or subpentagonal (hence the name of the family). The aboral face is often covered with tiny spines looking like paxillae. Pedicellariae are often valvate, and the gonads are located at the interradius.[1]
Main identification keys for this group include the presence of paxillae, granules, teeth, spines, or the shape and dimensions of marginal plate.[2]
Location and habitat
They occur predominantly on deep-water continental shelf habitats (but a part of them inhabit shallow waters) in all the world’s oceans, being the most diverse in the Indo-Pacific region.[3]
List of genera
About 260 extant species within 70 genera are currently known, which make this family the most diverse of all the sea stars,[4] even if half of the genera are monospecific.
According to World Register of Marine Species, this family includes the following genera:[5]
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References
- ^ "Family Goniasteridae". Marine Species Identification Portal.
- ^ "Family Goniasteridae". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.
- ^ Clark, A. M. An index of names of recent Asteroidea Part 2: Valvatida. Echinoderm Studies 4 (1993)
- ^ Christopher Mah (23 April 2013). "How many starfish species are there ? Where do they Live ? How long have they been around ? Five Points about Sea Star Diversity". The Echinoblog.
- ^ Christopher Mah (2014), Goniasteridae Forbes, 1841, In: Mah, C.L. (2014) World Asteroidea database, accessed through World Register of Marine Species
- ^ Mah, Christopher L. (2011). "Taxonomy of high-latitude Goniasteridae (Subantarctic & Antarctic): one new genus, and three new species with an overview and key to taxa" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2759: 1–48.
