Asterias argonauta explained

Asterias argonauta is a starfish native to the Pacific coasts of Far East Russia.^[1]

The species was first described by Alexander Michailovitsch Djakonov in 1950,^{[1] [2] [3]} with the holotype collected in 1925 in the Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan near the Basargin Lighthouse, at a depth of 20m in the waters off Primorsky Krai.^{[4] [5]}

It has also been recovered in Chemulpo Bay, in northwestern South Korea.^[1]

It has been found on silty sand or pebble substrates.^[4] It has been found at depths of 1-32m.^[1]

Description

This starfish has five arms. The arms grow to 14.6cm, the ratio between the length of the arm and the radius of its disc is 4:1.^[1] It has planktonic larvae.^[2] Djakonov found it to be the most similar to Asterias rollestoni.^[1]

Notes and References

1. Book: Дьяконов, А.М. . 1950 . Морские звезды морей СССР [Определители по фауне. 34 (Tableaux analytiques de la faune de l'URSS 34)] . Russian . . . 124.
2. Web site: Asterias argonauta Djakonov, 1950 . Mah . Christopher L. . 2008 . World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) . Flanders Marine Institute . 13 November 2019.
3. Book: Jangoux . Michel . Lawrence . John M. . 1 June 2001 . Echinoderm studies 6 . CRC Press . 260 . 9789058093011.
4. Web site: Sea Stars (Asteroidea) Catalogue • Asterias . Smirnov . Igor S. . 2019 . Research Collections of the Zoological Institute RAS . Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences . 13 November 2019.
5. Smirnov I, Khalikov R (2019). Catalogue of the type specimens of sea stars (Asteroidea, Echinodermata) from research collections of the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. Version 1.11. Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/3vvua7 accessed via GBIF.org on 2019-11-18. https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1899866107