''Novodinia antillensis'', the velcro sea star, 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 starfish in the family

Brisingidae The Brisingidae are a family of starfish found only in the deep sea. They inhabit both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at abyssal depths, and also occur in the Southern Ocean and around Antarctica at slightly shallower depths. The family was ...

. It is found in the deep sea in the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic Ocean, being quite common at a depth of around on the Mesoamerican Reef off

Roatán Roatán () is an island in the Caribbean, about off the northern coast of Honduras. It is located between the islands of Utila and Guanaja, and is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras. The island was formerly known in English as Ruatan ...

, Honduras.

Description

This starfish has ten to fourteen long tapering arms with distinctive large eyespots on the tips. These are each composed of about a hundred complex ocelli; on close examination these structures were found to be virtually devoid of sensory structures and may be non-functional. The disc and arms of this starfish are clad in spines, themselves armed with

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 (small claw or wrench-shaped organs).

Ecology

''Novodinia antillensis'' perches on the branches of arboreal deep water corals, extending its arms into the

water column A water column is a conceptual column of water from the surface of a sea, river or lake to the bottom sediment.Munson, B.H., Axler, R., Hagley C., Host G., Merrick G., Richards C. (2004).Glossary. ''Water on the Web''. University of Minnesota-D ...

to catch 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 drifting past. The arms form a feeding fan, the pedicellariae grasp and secure the prey, and the arms form loops that surround the food item and take it to the mouth. On the Cape Fear coral mound off North Carolina at a depth of around , the dominant

macrobenthos Macrobenthos consists of the organisms that live at the bottom of a water columnJ.S. Link, C.A. Griswold, E.T. Methratta, J. Gunnard, Editors. 2006Documentation for the Energy Modeling and Analysis eXercise (EMAX). United States Department of C ...

included ''N. antillensis'' as well as the

American conger The American conger (''Conger oceanicus'') is a species of eel in the family Congridae. Other common names for this fish include conger, dog eel, poison eel and sea eel. It is a marine fish with a widespread distribution in the Western Atlantic f ...

(''Conger oceanicus''), the

alfonsino The alfonsino (''Beryx decadactylus''), also known as the alfonsin, longfinned beryx, red bream, or imperador, is a species of deepwater berycid fish of the order Beryciformes. It can be found in temperate and subtropical ocean waters nearly wo ...

(''Beryx decadactylus''),

sea urchin Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...

s and squat lobsters ('' Eumunida picta''). Each species, especially the fish, had its own favoured niche habitat, often on the southern and southwestern slopes of the mound. More transient visitors to the

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...

included the shortbeard codling ('' Laemonema barbatulum'') and the

blackbelly rosefish ''Helicolenus dactylopterus'', blackbelly rosefish, bluemouth rockfish, and bluemouth seaperch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae which is classified within the family Scorpaenidae. This Atlantic specie ...

(''Helicolenus dactylopterus'') which were mostly found on the lower slopes and base of the mound.

Research

Two novel steroidal

saponin Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...

s have been isolated from ''N. antillensis'', being identified as Sch 725737 and Sch 725739.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2113152 Brisingida Animals described in 1934 Fauna of the Atlantic Ocean