Aquilonastra burtoni
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| Aquilonastra burtoni | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata |
| Class: | Asteroidea |
| Order: | Valvatida |
| Family: | Asterinidae |
| Genus: | Aquilonastra |
| Species: | A. burtoni |
| Binomial name | |
| Aquilonastra burtoni (Gray), 1840 | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Aquilonastra burtoni is a species of small sea star from the family Asterinidae from the Red Sea which has colonised the eastern Mediterranean by Lessepsian migration through the Suez Canal, although the Mediterranean populations are clonal reproducing through fissiparous asexual reproduction. It was originally described in 1840 by the English zoologist and philatelist John Edward Gray.
Aquilonastra burtoni is a small species of sea star with up to 8 rays, frequently 7, they frequently demonstrate an asymmetrical form after fissiparous division while the form of larger specimens is often symmetrical with 5 equal rays; there is an inconspicuous madreporite in most interradii. The rays narrow basally, tapering to a narrow rounded distal part which is finger-like. Each of the plates on the oral surface has a grouping of 3 crowded mobile tapering spines in their centres, while those of the dorsal surface have a dense group of short tubercles. It is a greenish gray colour on the dorsal sid with a large, irregular, purplish brown blotch in the centre which is surrounded by red spots at the bases of the arms. The arms are normally a darker greenish near their distal portions where there is also a pale median line.[2][3]
Distribution
The native range of Aquilonastra burtoni is the north western Indian Ocean including the Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman and the coasts of eastern Africa south to Zanzibar. It has been reported from a wider range east to Hawaii and south to Madagascar[4] but these records appear to refer to other similar Aquilonastra species.[2] It was first recorded within the Suez Canal in 1926 and then in the eastern Mediterranean in 1966, and by 2010 it had been recorded from Cyprus.[4]