Ophiocoma scolopendrina

Ophiocoma scolopendrina
Ophiocoma scolopendrina at Sharm El Sheik, Red Sea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Stelleroidea
Subclass: Ophiuroidea
Order: Ophiurida
Suborder: Chilophiurina
Family: Ophiocomidae
Genus: Ophiocoma
Species: O. scolopendrina
Binomial name
Ophiocoma scolopendrina
(Lamarck, 1816)
Synonyms
  • Ophiocoma alternans von Martens, 1870
  • Ophiocoma lubrica Koehler, 1898
  • Ophiocoma molaris Lyman, 1862
  • Ophiocoma variabilis Grube, 1857
  • Ophiura scolopendrina Lamarck, 1816

Ophiocoma scolopendrina is a species of brittle star belonging to the family Ophiocomidae.

Description

Ophiocoma scolopendrina, as other brittle stars, have long, thin arms emanating from a small, disk-shaped body and are about the size of an outstretched human hand. They belong to the phylum of echinoderms, which includes sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and sea stars.

Dorsal disc and dorsal arm plates vary from black, variegated black to pale brown. Arms are irregularly banded. They can reach a length of about 13 cm, while the disc diameter reaches 20 mm.

Distribution

This species can be found in the Red Sea, Eastern Africa and Madagascar.

Habitat

These brittle stars present in crevices and under boulders of intertidal reef platforms, in the upper and middle eulittoral.

References

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