Goniasteridae, Forbes, 1841

Mah, Christopher L., 2024, Two New Taxa of Goniasteridae (Asteroidea, Echinodermata) and Noteworthy Observations of Deep-Sea Asteroidea by the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the North and Tropical Atlantic, Zootaxa 5432 (4), pp. 461-508 : 470-471

Goniasteridae

Anthenoides Perrier, 1881

Anthenoides Perrier, 1881: 23 ; 1884: 246–247; Verrill, 1915: 113; Fisher, 1906: 1070; Fisher, 1919: 328; Bernasconi, 1963: 20; 1964: 254–255; Clark and Downey, 1992: 228; A.M. Clark, 1993: 241.

Leptogonaster Sladen,1889: 326 ; Fisher, 1906: 1070; Fisher, 1911: 169, 173.

Antheniaster Verrill, 1899: 173 ; Fisher, 1906: 1067; 1911: 169, 173

Type species: Anthenoides piercei Perrier, 1881

Diagnosis

Goniasteridae with stellate body form, pointed, triangular arms, broad interradial arcs, abactinal plates abutted, papulae present over radial regions on disc and arms, absent interradially. Continuous granule-invested tegument covers abactinal, marginal, actinal surface. Marginal plates quadrate forming distinct abactinal-actinal facing border with granules or short spinelets. Pedicellariae present or absent. Furrow spines, fine slender, subambulacral spination variable but some species with both bivalve and forceps-like pedicellariae. Modified from Mah (2018).

Comments

Anthenoides is a widely distributed goniasterid present in relatively deep-sea habitats (approximately 100–1000 m) in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. There have been comprehensive taxonomic accounts of Pacific (e.g. Fisher, 1909; Clark & McKnight 2001), Indian Ocean ( Mah 2018) and Atlantic species (e.g. Halpern, 1970; Clark & Downey, 1992) but little is known regarding their biology.