Culcita is a genus of sea stars. They are found in tropical waters. Some are kept in home aquariums.
| Culcita | |
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| Culcita novaeguineae | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata |
| Class: | Asteroidea |
| Order: | Valvatida |
| Family: | Oreasteridae |
| Genus: | Culcita Agassiz, 1836 |
Description and characteristics
editThese are very particular stars, plump and pillow-shaped, more or less pentagonal. Their five arms have waned to only obtuse angles (and sometimes rounded off or truncated). They can measure up to 30 cm in diameter, and are typical of Indo-Pacific coral reefs, where they feed on benthic invertebrates and coral.
Two species Culcita novaeguineae and Culcita schmideliana are extremely similar and almost impossible to differentiate by sight, except that C. schmideliana has larger tubercles, that are normally absent from papular areas[1] (though both species can also be naked). They are thus distinguished mostly by their area of distribution: C. schmideliana lives in the Indian Ocean (from Africa to the Maldives), and C. novaeguineae in Oceania and the Pacific Ocean. The third species, C. coriacea, lives in the Red Sea and around Arabia, and is slightly different in appearance.
This genus is not to be confused with similar cushion-shaped species such as Halityle regularis.[2]
The juveniles are flat and pentagonal, and can look like "biscuit sea stars" from the family Goniasteridae (such as Peltaster spp.).[3]
List of species
editThe genus contains three species:[4]
- Culcita coriacea Müller & Troschel, 1842 -- Red Sea and Arabic region
- Culcita novaeguineae Müller & Troschel, 1842 -- Indonesian region and Pacific Ocean
- Culcita schmideliana (Retzius, 1805) -- Indian Ocean
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Juveniles are flat and pentagonal -
Oral face (the mouth is at the center)
References
edit- ^ Clark, Ailsa M.; Rowe, Franck W. (1971). Monograph of shallow-water Indo-West Pacific echinoderms. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). OCLC 717759019.
- ^ Mah, Christopher L. (17 December 2014). "A simple guide to Tropical "cushion stars"! Halityle vs. Culcita spp.!!". The Echinoblog.
- ^ Mah, Christopher L. (24 February 2009). "The Cushion star Culcita novaeguineae: An exercise in growth-related taxonomic confusion!". The Echinoblog.
- ^ Christopher Mah (2009). C. L. Mah (ed.). "Culcita (Agassiz, 1836)". World Asteroidea database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
External links
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