Ophiotrichidae are a family 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 ...
s within the suborder
Gnathophiurina
The Gnathophiurina are a group of Ophiuroidea mostly treated as suborder (but at first as an order Gnathophiurida, and sometimes as infraorder of OphiurinaSmith, A.B.; Paterson, G.L.J. . Ophiuroid phylogeny and higher taxonomy: morphological, ...
.
All of its species have arms with delicate, translucent, thorny spines. Their arms are flexible in all directions. Their jaws contain clusters of well-developed tooth papillae on the apex but not on the sides. There are no mouth papillae. Inside the mouth edge there is a second pair of tube feet. They show large radial shields. The dorsal surface of the disc is covered with spines and thorny towers.
Systematics
Ophiotrichidae contains the following genera:
MarineSpecies.org - Ophiotrichidae Ljungman, 1867
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*''Asteria
In Greek mythology, Asteria or Asterie ( ; ) is a daughter of the Titans Coeus (Polus) and Phoebe and the sister of Leto. According to Hesiod, by the Titan Perses she had a single child, a daughter named Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Othe ...
'' (''nomen dubium'')
*'' Gymnolophus'' Brock, 1888
*'' Lissophiothrix'' H.L. Clark, 1938
*'' Macrophiothrix'' H.L. Clark, 1938
*'' Ophioaethiops'' Brock, 1888
*'' Ophiocampsis'' Duncan, 1887
*'' Ophiocnemis'' Müller & Troschel, 1842
*'' Ophiogymna'' Ljungman, 1866
*'' Ophiolophus'' Marktanner-Turneretscher, 1887
*'' Ophiomaza'' Lyman, 1871
*'' Ophiophthirius'' Döderlein, 1898
*'' Ophiopsammium'' Lyman, 1874
*'' Ophiopteron'' Ludwig, 1888
*'' Ophiothela'' Verrill, 1867
*'' Ophiothrichoides'' Delage & Hérouard, 1903
*'' Ophiothrix'' Müller & Troschel, 1840
*'' Ophiotrichoides'' Ludwig, 1882
Image:Macrophiothrix sp..jpg, Une '' Macrophiothrix sp.''
Image:Ophiogymna funesta (MNHN-IE-2013-10242) 02.jpg, '' Ophiogymna funesta''
Image:Feather-hitching brittle star (Ophiomaza cacaotica) 2.jpg, '' Ophiomaza cacaotica''
Image:Ophiopteron elegans.jpg, '' Ophiopteron elegans''
Image:Ophiopsammium semperi.jpg, '' Ophiopsammium semperi''
Image:Ophiothela mirabilis.jpg, '' Ophiothela mirabilis''
Image:Ophiothrix foveolata (Brittle star).jpg, '' Ophiothrix foveolata''
Image:Ophiothrix fragilis (Abildgaard, 1789) 1 .jpg, '' Ophiothrix fragilis''
Image:Ophiothrixspiculata.jpg, '' Ophiothrix spiculata''
Image:Sponge Brittle Stars.jpg, '' Ophiothrix suensonii''
Image:Ophiothrix angulata.jpg, '' Ophiothrix angulata''
References
* Hansson, H.G. (2001). Echinodermata, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 336–351
* Stöhr, S.; Hansson, H. (2009). Ophiotrichidae. In: Stöhr, S., O’Hara, T. (Eds) (2009). World Ophiuroidea database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
a
on 2010-06-16
* P.J. Hayward and J.S. Ryland (ed.), Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-West Europe, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996,
Ophiotrichidae,
Gnathophiurina
Echinoderm families
{{ophiuroidea-stub