Astrolirus patricki

Astrolirus patricki
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Asteroidea
Order: Brisingida
Family: Brisingidae
Genus: Astrolirus
Species:
A. patricki
Binomial name
Astrolirus patricki
Zhang, Zhou, Xiao & Wang, 2020

Astrolirus patricki is a species of starfish in the family Brisingidae. It is a deep-sea species found on seamounts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, at a depth of between 1,458–2,125 metres (4,783–6,972 ft).[1][2]

This generally orange asteroidea has seven long spiny arms, allowing them to be excellent suspension feeders in deep waters. They extend their arms to catch food particles suspended in the water. Their arm skeleton is a mosaic of abutting plates, and each pair of arms contains a set of sexual organs and eyes. [1]

This species was discovered to science in 2013, and described in 2020. All known specimens of the species were observed attached to hexactinellid sponges, indicating a close, possibly commensal, relationship between both taxa. Due to this apparent relationship with sponges, the species was named Astrolirus patricki as a reference to Patrick Star, an anthropomorphic starfish character from the SpongeBob SquarePants television series.[3][4][5]

In 2021, the World Register of Marine Species selected A. patricki as one of "ten remarkable new species from 2020".[6]

  1. ^ a b Zhang, Ruiyan; Zhou, Yadong; Xiao, Ning; Wang, Chunsheng (2020-05-27). "A new sponge-associated starfish, Astrolirus patricki sp. nov. (Asteroidea: Brisingida: Brisingidae), from the northwestern Pacific seamounts". PeerJ. 8: e9071. doi:10.7717/peerj.9071. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 7261123. PMID 32518717.
  2. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Astrolirus patricki Zhang, Zhou, Xiao & Wang, 2020". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  3. ^ "SOO PhD Student Named A New Marine Species Patrick Star-SCHOOL OF OCEANOGRAPHY". soo.sjtu.edu.cn. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  4. ^ "A new species named Astrolirus Patriki by HUST alumna-Huazhong University of Science and Technology". english.hust.edu.cn. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  5. ^ "Post-90s female scientist discovers new marine species, names it Patrick Star - People's Daily Online". en.people.cn. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  6. ^ "Ten remarkable new marine species from 2020 | Lifewatch regional portal". lifewatch.be. Retrieved 2022-02-01.