Discovery of adults linked to cloning oceanic starfish larvae (Oreaster, asteroidea: Echinodermata)

• Main Authors: Janies, Daniel, Hernández-Díaz, Yoalli Quetzalli, Solís-Marín, Francisco Alonso, Lopez, Karen, Alexandrov, Boyan, Galac, Madeline, Herrera, Joan, Cobb, Janessa, Ebert, Thomas A., Bosch, Isidro
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: KnightScholar 2019
• Subjects: Asteroidea; Echinodermata; Oreaster; Oreaster reticulatus; Oreasteridae; adult; article; benthos; cladistics; Florida; Gulf of Mexico; Gulf stream; juvenile; mitochondrion; morphology; new species; nonhuman; polymerase chain reaction; single nucleotide polymorphism; starfish larva; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/biology/9; https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/context/biology/article/1008/viewcontent/discoveryofadults.pdf

Two juvenile specimens of a new species of Oreaster were collected at Parque Nacional Arrecife Alacranes and Triángulos Oeste in the southern Gulf of Mexico. DNA of mitochondrial loci identifies them as members of the same clade as cloning larvae of Oreaster found abundantly in waters of the Florida Current-Gulf Stream system, and distinct from Oreaster clavatus and Oreaster reticulatus, the two known Oreasteridae species in the North Atlantic. Larvae from the new species of Oreaster persist as clones but also metamorphose and settle to the benthos with typical asteroid morphology. © 2019 The University of Chicago.