''Freyella elegans'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of deep-water

starfish Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Freyellidae The Freyellidae are a family of deep-sea-dwelling starfish. It is one of two families in the order Brisingida. The majority of species in this family are found in Antarctic waters and near Australia. Other species have been found near New Zea ...

in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Brisingida, living at

abyssal The abyssal zone or abyssopelagic zone is a layer of the pelagic zone of the ocean. "Abyss" derives from the Greek word , meaning bottomless. At depths of , this zone remains in perpetual darkness. It covers 83% of the total area of the ocean an ...

depths in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

Taxonomy

All ''Freyella'' species occur in very deep water, and are gathered only occasionally from isolated locations, almost exclusively by

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

or using a

beam trawl Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towing ...

. Targeted collection is virtually impossible and the material that is brought up is almost never intact. That makes the description and naming of species complicated. In 1986,

Maureen Downey Maureen Elizabeth Downey (May 1, 1921 – May 14, 2000) was an American zoologist who worked for three decades at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Known as "The Starfish Lady," she was an authority on sea stars and other echinod ...

published the results of a study she had done on the deep sea starfish from the Atlantic that had been described at that time. One of her findings was that the species described by Verrill in 1884 and named by him as ''Brisinga elegans'', had later been redefined by several authors under different names, and she reduced these names to

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

s of ''Freyella elegans''.

Description

This starfish has a small disc and normally twelve long, rather rigid arms, about long. The hexagonal plates on the aboral (upper surface) of the disc bear one to three spinelets and are covered by a membrane with no

pedicellaria A pedicellaria (plural: pedicellariae) is a small wrench- or claw-shaped appendage with movable jaws, called valves, commonly found on echinoderms (phylum Echinodermata), particularly in sea stars (class Asteroidea) and sea urchins (class Echinoi ...

e. The madreporite is near the margin of the disc and the anus is quite distinct and near the centre of the disc. The spines on the lateral plates are short and robust. The arms are long, narrow and cylindrical at the

proximal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

end near the disc, widening slightly and becoming cigar-shaped

distally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

and tapering near the tips. Here, the membrane covering them is semi-transparent, and there are saddle-like bands, and many small pedicellariae. Underneath the arms, the

ambulacral groove Ambulacral is a term typically used in the context of anatomical parts of the phylum Echinodermata or class Asteroidea and Edrioasteroidea. Echinoderms can have ambulacral parts that include ossicles, plates, spines, and suckers. For example, sea ...

occupies more than half the width of each arm. The outer spines around the mouth on the oral (lower surface) of the disc form a bar across the ambulacral grooves.

Distribution

This starfish is a

bathydemersal Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

species living in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, at depths of around . It has been detected between Cape Hatteras and the

Georges Bank Georges Bank (formerly known as St. Georges Bank) is a large elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod, Massachusetts (United States), and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia (Canada). It separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean. Th ...

, as well as near

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

and in the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

Ecology

Little is known of the feeding habits of this species. Although some members of the Brisingida have been photographed with their arms raised, apparently filter feeding, those in the genus ''Freyella'' have only been observed lying flat on the sediment and are therefore probably not suspension feeders; some have been found to have the exoskeletons of small

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

s within their buccal cavities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1879899 Brisingida Fauna of the Atlantic Ocean Animals described in 1884 Taxa named by Addison Emery Verrill