In January 2024, the description of a new sea star species from the Philippines was published in Zootaxa.
๐พ๐๐ช๐ง๐๐ช๐ข๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐ ๐๐ค๐จ๐๐
Distribution/habitat: Philippines (Balut Island and Aliguay Island, Mindanao); Japan (Okinawa Island); Australia (Ashmore Reef)
Endemic: No
Distinctive traits: ๐. ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช is an โextremely rareโ species of sea star (starfish), observed at depths of 100 to 250 meters in the waters of certain areas of the Philippines, Japan, and Australia. This flat-bodied, five-armed member of the Goniasteridae (biscuit star) family features a maximum radius of about 6 cm from the center of its body to the tip of one of its triangular arms. Its surface has small bumps (creating the appearance of โsmooth, almost featureless pavementโ), while its arms sport bony plates. Despite exhibiting a consistent body pattern, ๐. ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช appears to vary in color depending on the region of origin; the Australian specimen, for example, is orange with a yellow center, while the specimen from Japan is yellow with a white center and yellow triangular areas on its arms.
Conservation status: Unknown/Unspecified
Described by: Christopher Mah, Yoichi Kogure, Toshihiko Fujita, Takuo Higashiji
Etymology: The international name of this sea star is ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช. The genus name combines the words ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช (Japanese for โbeautiful seaโ) from the Churaumi Okinawa Aquarium (one of the collaborating organizations that made the discovery of the species possible) and โ-๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ขโ (Latin-derived word for โstarโ). Together with its species epithet โ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช, or โstarโ in Japanese โ its name means โthe star of the beautiful sea.โ In Japan, it is called ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช-๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ถ-๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ (which roughly translates to โthe beautiful seaโs pentagonal sea starโ).
Significance
๐. ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช was described by one of the study authors, Takuo Higashiji, as the kind of starfish that you โcan’t see even if you dive.โ It was first spotted in the oceanโs mesophotic region (upper level of the deep sea), which, despite what experts call its โreducedโ sunlight and temperature, may actually be the home of numerous species of unique wildlife that scientists have yet to find. โMF
Reference:
Mah, C. L., Kogure, Y., Fujita, T., & Higashiji, T. (2024). New Taxa and Occurrences of Mesophotic and Deep-sea Goniasteridae (Valvatida, Asteroidea) from Okinawa and adjacent regions. Zootaxa, 5403(1), 1โ41. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5403.1.1
Author: Mikael Angelo Francisco
Bitten by the science writing bug, Mikael has years of writing and editorial experience under his belt. As the editor-in-chief of FlipScience, Mikael has sworn to help make science more fun and interesting for geeky readers and casual audiences alike.
