You are here
Echinodermata
Astropyga
EOL Text
Astropyga is a genus of tropical sea urchins.
These echinoids are found in shallow waters throughout all the tropics, as well in the Atlantic (A. magnifica) as in the Indian (A. radiata) and Pacific oceans (A. pulvinata). They usually live at snorkelling depths in coral ecosystems, but can be found at more than 30m deep ; they can be very common in seagrass beds. They are mainly algae grazers, but can eat a wide variety of foods.
These species all share a distinctive shape, with a flattened test and rather long, hollow and slender spines. They all wear bright colors, usually bright red and white (sometimes black), with a distinctive star-shaped naked pattern on the aboral surface, around the anus ("astro-pyga" means "star-shaped anus"), ponctuated by iridophores (lines of bright blue dots). The anal papilla is rather big and rounded. Young specimens have banded spines, but some mature specimens can still be so.
Some of their spines are venomous and painful, but not really dangerous.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Frédéric Ducarme, Frédéric Ducarme |
Source | No source database. |
Depth range based on 55 specimens in 4 taxa.
Water temperature and chemistry ranges based on 25 samples.
Environmental ranges
Depth range (m): 11 - 252
Temperature range (°C): 19.787 - 27.265
Nitrate (umol/L): 0.311 - 7.979
Salinity (PPS): 34.673 - 36.401
Oxygen (ml/l): 4.230 - 4.820
Phosphate (umol/l): 0.029 - 1.320
Silicate (umol/l): 0.380 - 18.854
Graphical representation
Depth range (m): 11 - 252
Temperature range (°C): 19.787 - 27.265
Nitrate (umol/L): 0.311 - 7.979
Salinity (PPS): 34.673 - 36.401
Oxygen (ml/l): 4.230 - 4.820
Phosphate (umol/l): 0.029 - 1.320
Silicate (umol/l): 0.380 - 18.854
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.
License | http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Ocean Biogeographic Information System |
Source | http://www.iobis.org/mapper/?taxon_id=407623 |
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) Stats
Specimen Records:11
Specimens with Sequences:11
Specimens with Barcodes:6
Species:5
Species With Barcodes:5
Public Records:7
Public Species:4
Public BINs:2
Astropyga is a genus of sea urchins of the Family Diadematidae. Their armour is covered with spines. Astropyga was first scientifically described in 1855 by John Edward Gray.[1][2]
Species[edit]
According to World Register of Marine Species:
- Astropyga magnifica (Leske, 1778)
- Astropyga nuptialis (Tommasi, 1958)
- Astropyga pulvinata (Lamarck, 1816)
- Astropyga radiata (Leske, 1778)
References[edit]
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Astropyga&oldid=627183495 |