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New records of brittle stars from French Guiana: Ophiactis savignyi and the alien species Ophiothela mirabilis (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2013

Gordon Hendler  and
Sophie J. Brugneaux
Gordon Hendler*
Affiliation:
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90007, USA
Sophie J. Brugneaux
Affiliation:
Agence des aires marines protégées, quai de la Douane, BP 42932, 29229 Brest Cedex 2, France
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: G. Hendler, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90007, USA email: hendler@nhm.org
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Abstract

The brittle stars Ophiactis savignyi and Ophiothela mirabilis are documented for the first time from French Guiana. The latter species was associated with colonies of a gorgonian, Leptogorgia miniata, growing on a rocky reef beneath a brackish layer of water and above an unstable mud bottom. Ophiothela mirabilis is a recently established alien introduction to the Atlantic. Ophiothela discovered in French Guiana were located approximately midway between populations of O. mirabilis in Brazil and at St Vincent, and individuals from all three countries may represent a single lineage of ophiuroids. Evidence is presented that O. savignyi and O. mirabilis could have been transported to the Amazon Barrier region by shipping and/or by coastal currents linking Brazil, French Guiana and St Vincent. If oceanic circulation is responsible for its dispersal, it is predicted that O. mirabilis will spread from the Windward Islands toward the southern Caribbean coast, whereas dispersal by shipping could follow a more northerly route.

Keywords

alien speciesAmazon Barrierasexual reproductionfissiparityinvasive specieslarval dispersalLeptogorgiaNorth Brazil Currentraftingsymbiosis
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 6 , 2013 , e113
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

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