''Ophiothela mirabilis'' is a species of ophiurid

brittle star Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

s within the family

Ophiotrichidae Ophiotrichidae are a family of ophiurid brittle stars within the suborder Gnathophiurina. All have arms with delicate translucent, thorny spines. The arms are flexible in all directions. The jaws contain clusters of well-developed tooth papillae ...

Characteristics

It is a very minute brittle star, which rarely reaches more than 1 cm including arms. It has in general 6 arms, however because of its mode of reproduction by division (

scissiparity Fission, in biology, is the division of a single entity into two or more parts and the regeneration of those parts to separate entities resembling the original. The object experiencing fission is usually a cell, but the term may also refer to how ...

), its shape is often very irregular (one half more developed than the other, only 4 or 5 arms, or on the contrary 7 or 8...). Its coloration is extremely variable and made believe for a long time in a complex of several species: it can thus be orange plain or white mottled with bright colors (in particular yellow and blue) with ringed arms.Alitto RAS, Granadier G, Christensen AB, O’Hara T, Di Domenico M et Borges M,
Unravelling the taxonomic identity of ''Ophiothela'' Verrill, 1867 (Ophiuroidea) along the Brazilian coast
, ''Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom'', ‎ 2020, pp. 1–14 (DOI 10.1017/S002531542000034X). All have arms with delicate translucent, thorny spines. The arms are flexible in all directions. The jaws contain clusters of well-developed tooth papillae on the apex but not on the sides. There are no mouth papillae. Inside the mouth edge there is a second pair of tube feet. The dorsal surface of the disc is covered with spines and thorny towers. Tiny colourful brittlestar (Ophiothela danae) in flowery soft coral.jpg, With 7 arms Ophiothela danae.jpg, Wrapped by dozens around a gorgonian Ophiothela mirabilis (zookeys.406.6306) 01.jpg, Preserved specimen Ophiothela mirabilis, dorsal view.jpg The former species ''Ophiothela danae'' is now considered a junior synonym of ''Ophiothela mirabilis''.

Distribution

This species is found in the tropical ecosystems of the Indo-Pacific, where it lives coiled, sometimes in hundreds, on larger animals (sponges, echinoderms, gorgonians, corals...).Marcelo Checoli Mantelatto, Lara Figueiredo Vidon, Rosana Beatriz Silveira, Carla Menegola, Rosana Moreira da Rocha and Joel Christopher Creed (2016
Host species of the non-indigenous brittle star ''Ophiothela mirabilis'' (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea): an invasive generalist in Brazil
''Marine Biodiversity Records'', 2016, 9:8. Recently, it has appeared in the Caribbean, where it seems to be becoming invasive: it has probably been transported by commercial ships.

References

Gnathophiurina Echinoderm families {{ophiuroidea-stub