Ophiactis simplex (Le Conte 1851)

In Panama this species has been collected from the reef near the Old French Fort (USNM E 25531), Panama Bay, and from another location (USNM E 7929) without precise loaclity data, eastern Pacific, North Pacific Ocean.

Le Conte, J.L. (1851). Zoological Notes. Proceedings of the Society of Natural History Philadelphia, 5, 317-320.

Lütken, C.F. (1855). Bidrag til Kundskab om Slangestjernerne. I. Forelöbig Oversigt over Grönlandshavet Ophiurer. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra den naturhistoriske Forening 1854, 6: 95-104.

GenBank

World Ophiuroidea Database

LSID urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:243468

Ophiactis arenosa Lütken, 1856
Ophiactis oerstedi Lütken, 1856
Ophiolepis simplex Le Conte, 1851

Disk rounded (dd = 1.4 to 4.3 mm) covered by imbricating, rounded and large scales; the disk can bear small scattered spines. Primary plate conspicuous. Short spines at the edge of the disk. Radial shields small and widely separated by scales (Fig. 4D). Ventral side of the disk with spines and small imbricated scales (Fig. 4E). Oral shields oval, with a large madreporite shield evident. Adoral shields large about as wide as the oral shields, meeting within. One large oral papillae at each side of the jaw (Fig. 4F). Five arms. Dorsal arm plates wider than long with rounded edges (Fig. 4B). Ventral arm plates quadrangular with rounded edges. Lateral arm plates prominent. Four to five rounded and blunt arm spines, the lowest one shortest. A single, large and oval tentacle scale (Fig. 4C). Color of the dorsal side brown (Fig. 4A). Ventral side yellowish-cream, some ventral arm plates with darker bands (Fig. 4C, E).

USA (California), Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Galapagos Islands and Peru (Nielsen 1932, Maluf 1988, Alvarado et al. 2010, Tirado et al. 2012). In Mexico, from the Gulf of California (Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa), on the Pacific side of Baja California and Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Marías Islands, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero and Oaxaca (Solís-Marín et al. 2005, Honey-Escandón et al. 2008, Granja-Fernández and López-Pérez 2011, Ríos-Jara et al. 2013). In this study, Ophiactis simplex was collected on coral reefs from Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero and Oaxaca, from 1.5 to 22.3 m depth.