Astropecten cingulatus Sladen, 1833

Gondim, Anne Isabelley, Christoffersen, Martin Lindsey & Pereira Dias, Thelma Lucia, 2014, Taxonomic guide and historical review of starfishes in northeastern Brazil (Echinodermata, Asteroidea), ZooKeys 449, pp. 1-56 : 9-10

Astropecten cingulatus Sladen, 1833 Figure 5e-h

Astropecten cingulatus Sladen, 1883: 266. Brito 1962: 3; 1968: 9, pl. 4, fig. 4. Tommasi 1970: 5, fig. 16; 1985: 3. Carrera-Rodrigues and Tommasi 1977: 84-86. Tommasi and Aron 1987: 3. Manso 1989: 357. Tommasi et al. 1988: 5. Ventura et al. 2007: 231. Xavier 2010: 75.

Astropecten mesactus Studer, 1884: 46.

Astropecten jarli Madsen, 1950: 181.

Material examined.

Rio de Janeiro: Cabo Frio, 1 spec., MNRJ1853, 18.VI.1997.

Type locality.

Pernambuco, Brazil ( Clark and Downey 1992).

Description.

Body pentagonal, flattened dorso-ventrally. Five long (~37.70 mm) and narrow (~9.56 mm) arms (length of arm corresponds to approximately four times its width) (Fig. 5e). Madreporite oval (~1.52 mm) and marginal. Epiproctal cone pronounced. Paxillae small and granulose, with 1-4 central spinelets and 9-12 marginal spinelets. Paxillar spinelets granulose (Fig. 5e). Superomarginal figs granulose (Fig. 5g). Two fringes of marginal spines aligned horizontally. First row of spines of inferomarginal figs with three marginal spines, disposed in parallel to each other, two being of the same length and one shorter. Second row with four elongate and slightly flattened spines, three of which are subequal in length and one much shorter. Oral spines short, forming a bundle at the apex of the jaw (Fig. 5f). Adambulacral figs with 3-4 divergent spines, the median one being the largest (Fig. 5h). Subambulacral spines forming a bundle of elongate and slightly flattened (lanceolate) spines. Pedicellariae rarely present.

Colour. According to Benavides-Serrato et al. (2011) and Bernasconi (1957), the species has the abactinal surface red or orange-red and the actinal surface white. Ventura et al. (2007) recorded a cream-colour on the dorsal surface and white on the oral surface in Brazilian specimens.

Distribution.

North Carolina, the Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Africa ( Tommasi 1970, Carrera-Rodríguez and Tommasi 1977, Clark and Downey 1992, Ventura et al. 2007, Alvarado et al. 2008). In Brazil: PE, RJ, SP, and SC, including the submarine banks and mountain ranges Vitória-Trindade and Vitória Island (SP) ( Brito 1962, Tommasi 1970, 1985, Tommasi and Aron 1987, Manso 1989, Xavier 2010). Intertidal to 1350 m in depth ( Clark and Downey 1992), being most frequent between 51 and 129 m ( Carrera-Rodríguez and Tommasi 1977).

Remarks.

Astropecten cingulatus differs from its closest species, Astropecten articulatus , for having three rounded spines on each inferomarginal fig, and for having subambulacral spines that are smaller than the adambulacral spines and rounded. Bernasconi (1957) stresses a few morphological variations observed in specimens from Uruguay and Argentina. Among these are the aspect of the superomarginal figs, which do not have large spines, or then there are only a few small, granuliform spines on the first figs. According to Ventura et al. (2007) the specimens collected along the Brazilian coast have short arms, in contrast to the indication in the original diagnosis. The single individual we examined, on the other hand, corresponds to that indicated in the literature (lenght about four time its width).

Ecological notes.

This species lives on sandy or muddy bottoms of the littoral region up to depths of 50 m ( Tommasi 1970, Machado et al. 2008). It feeds mainly on gastropods, bivalves, crustaceans, and cirripeds ( Ventura et al. 2007). Astropecten cingulatus , and other species of the genus, are frequently captured in trawling nets and the species is presently included among those vulnerable to extinction in Brazil ( Machado et al. 2008). According to Brito (1962), this species is abundant along the coast of Pernambuco, but no other works conducted in this state confirm this observation.