''Amphiodia habilis'' is a species of

brittle star Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomot ...

belonging to the family

Amphiuridae Amphiuridae (commonly called long-armed burrowing brittle stars or burrowing brittle stars) are a large family of brittle stars of the suborder Gnathophiurina The Gnathophiurina are a group of Ophiuroidea mostly treated as suborder (but at ...

. It is only known from a single locality off the coast of southeastern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, near the mouth of the

Doce River The Doce River ( , "Sweet River") is a river in southeast Brazil with a length of . The river basin is economically important. In 2015, the collapse of a dam released highly contaminated water from mining into the river, causing an ecological d ...

. This brittle star, with a disc diameter of 3.5 mm and arm length of 20 mm, can be most readily distinguished from congeners by the thick disc with large armoured plates on the upperside.

References

* habilis Animals described in 2001 {{ophiuroidea-stub