Hyalinothrix Fisher, 1911

Hyalinothrix Fisher, 1911: 659; McKnight in Clark & McKnight 2001: 152 (in key), 153.

Comments. Hyalinothrix was first described from deep-water settings in the Hawaiian Island region. It is broadly known only from tropical, deep-water settings in the North, Central and South Pacific. No species are known from the Atlantic or Indian oceans.

Hyalinothrix, as summarized herein includes six species. Five species, H. millespina, H. diversus n. sp., H. grangei, H. gracilis, and H. vitrispinum n. sp. show the glassy paxillar spinelets as outlined by Fisher (1911) in his description of Hyalinothrix millespina . This is in contrast to Hyalinothrix enoki n. sp., which displays shorter, blunt, opaque spinelets, suggesting a more intermediate morphology with other Asterinidae .