GONIASTERIDAE Forbes 1841

Mah, Christopher L., 2023, New Goniasteridae and in situ observations significant to deep-sea coral predation, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 83, pp. 1-35 : 2-3

GONIASTERIDAE Forbes 1841

Comments. Australian Goniasteridae have been recorded primarily from shallow-water and continental shore and slope habitats. The last census of Australian goniasterid taxa recorded 34 species in 19 genera (Rowe and Gates, 1995). Composition of Australian Goniasteridae has been complicated by taxonomic overlap with the Oreasteridae (e.g. Nectria , see Marsh and Fromont, 2020) and more recently with the Pseudarchasteridae and the Ophidiasteridae ( Mah and Foltz, 2011a) .

Although predominantly shallow, goniasterids have historically been among the deepest known of Australian asteroids, with some species, such as Nymphaster moebii (Studer, 1884) known to 1655 m. Goniasteridae described herein are among the deepest known asteroids from Australian waters.