''Aporometra wilsoni'' is a
marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
invertebrate, a
species of
crinoid or feather star in the
family Aporometridae
Aporometridae is a monotypic family of crinoids, the only genus being ''Aporometra'', which contains three species, all endemic to the seas around Australia.
Description
Members of this family have five arms which subdivide near the base givin ...
. It is found in shallow water around the coasts of southern Australia.
Description
This is a small species of
crinoid with arms up to long. The five arms each divide close to the base giving ten arms in total, with feather-like
pinnules fanning out on either side. There are also up to 25 unusual
cirri
Giovanni Battista Cirri (1 October 1724 – 11 June 1808) was an Italian cellist and composer in the 18th century.
Biography
Cirri was born in Forlì in the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy. He had his first musical training with his brother ...
with flattened undersides which may be longer than the arms. Both the
gonad
A gonad, sex gland, or reproductive gland is a mixed gland that produces the gametes and sex hormones of an organism. Female reproductive cells are egg cells, and male reproductive cells are sperm. The male gonad, the testicle, produces sper ...
s, and the chambers in which the
larvae
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
are
brooded
Egg incubation is the process by which an egg, of oviparous (egg-laying) animals, develops an embryo within the egg, after the egg's formation and ovipositional release. Egg incubation is done under favorable environmental conditions, pos ...
, are located on the pinnules in this species.
[
]
Distribution
This crinoid is native to the southern coasts of Australia. Its range extends from Elizabeth Reef, Perth, Western Australia, to Gabo Island, Victoria, at depths down to about .[
]
Ecology
''Aporometra wilsoni'' is found living in close association with brown algae such as '' Cystophora'' and '' Sargassum''.cilia
The cilium, plural cilia (), is a membrane-bound organelle found on most types of eukaryotic cell, and certain microorganisms known as ciliates. Cilia are absent in bacteria and archaea. The cilium has the shape of a slender threadlike projecti ...
and undergone metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...
, developing a stalk and holdfast. They fall to the seabed and immediately attach to the substrate
Substrate may refer to:
Physical layers
*Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached
** Substrate (locomotion), the surface over which an organism lo ...
, the mouth at the centre of the oral surface opens, the first tube feet emerge and they start to feed.[ The stem is later shed and the juvenile becomes free-living.][
]
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
{{Taxonbar
Aporometridae
Endemic fauna of Australia
Fauna of the Indian Ocean
Fauna of the Pacific Ocean
Marine fauna of Southern Australia
Marine fauna of Western Australia
Animals described in 1888