Circeaster Koehler 1909

Mah, Christopher L., 2023, New Goniasteridae and in situ observations significant to deep-sea coral predation, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 83, pp. 1-35 : 13

Circeaster Koehler 1909

Circeaster Koehler, 1909:83 . Halpern,1970 a: 265. Downey,1973: 47, 55, pl. 21A, B. Clark & Downey, 1992: 237. Clark, 1993: 250; Mah, 2006: 927

Diagnosis. Body weakly stellate to stellate, R/r> 2.5. Disk strongly arched, large. Arms elongate, tapering. tips upturned. Interradial arcs linear to curved. Abactinal arm plates 2–3 times larger than disk plates, changing gradually to abruptly between disk to arm. Abactinal arm and disk plates bare. Superomarginal plates abutted over midline in several species. Marginal plates bare, but variably with spinelets or granules present along dorsolateral/ventrolateral edges and surfaces of marginal plates. Greater density of spinelets/granules on inferomarginals than on superomarginals. Pedicellariae uncommon. Adambulacral furrow spines 6–15. Enlarged subambulacral spine or spines present. Prominent, paddle-like, bivalve or sunken pedicellariae with jagged teeth present on adambulacral plates.

Comments. Circeaster occurs widely, including eight species in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, primarily in lower bathyal to abyssal depths, 320–2160 m ( Mah, 2006). Two species, Circeaster loisetteae and Circeaster helenae , have been documented from Western Australia ( Mah, 2006).