Sclerasterias

Sclerasterias
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Subphylum:	Eleutherozoa
Class:	Asteroidea
Order:	Forcipulatida
Family:	Asteriidae
Genus:	Sclerasterias; Perrier, 1891
Species
	See text.
Synonyms
	Australiaster; Eustolasterias; Hydrasterias; Rumbleaster; Triplasterias;

Sclerasterias contorta, collection of the National Museum of Natural History (Paris, France).

Sclerasterias is a genus of starfish in the family Asteriidae. Adult individuals have five arms but small, immature individuals have six. This led to the giving of a separate generic name to the juveniles, Hydrasterias, before it was realised that only one genus was involved.^[2] These young individuals often undergo fissiparity. The disc splits into two parts, each bearing three arms, and new arms develop on each part to complete the complement of arms. This sometimes happens repeatedly and may be an adaptation to life in cold, deep seas where most of the species are found.^[2]

Species[]

The following species are accepted by the World Register of Marine Species:^[1]

(Ludwig, 1905)
(Perrier, 1881)
(H. L. Clark, 1909)
(McKnight, 2006)
(Fisher, 1906)
(Sladen, 1889)
Perrier, 1891
Fisher, 1924
(Wood-Mason & Alcock, 1891)
(Hutton, 1872)
(Perrier, 1891)
(Perrier, 1891)
(Perrier, 1882)
Doderlein, 1902
(Verrill, 1880)

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c Sclerasterias World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
^ ^a ^b Fisher, W. K. (1925-03-01). "Asexual Reproduction in the Starfish, Sclerasterias" (PDF). Biological Bulletin. 48 (3): 171–175. doi:10.2307/1536659. ISSN 0006-3185. JSTOR 1536659. Retrieved 2011-09-30.

This article about a starfish is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[WoRMS-1] Sclerasterias World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2011-09-30.

[Fisher-2] Fisher, W. K. (1925-03-01). "Asexual Reproduction in the Starfish, Sclerasterias" (PDF). Biological Bulletin. 48 (3): 171–175. doi:10.2307/1536659. ISSN 0006-3185. JSTOR 1536659. Retrieved 2011-09-30.

[1]

[2]