Comaster nobilis

Comaster nobilis, the noble/yellow feather star, is a crinoid in the family Comasteridae. It was previously classified as Comanthina nobilis but further research showed that it was better placed in the genus Comaster.

Comaster nobilis
Comaster nobilis in Sulawesi, Indonesia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Echinodermata
Class:
Crinoidea
Order:
Comatulida
Family:
Comasteridae
Genus:
Comaster
Species:
C. nobilis
Binomial name
Comaster nobilis
(Carpenter, 1884)
Synonyms
  • Actinometra duplex Carpenter, 1888
  • Actinometra dissimilis Carpenter, 1884
  • Actinometra nobilis Carpenter, 1884
  • Comanthina nobilis (Carpenter, 1884)

Description
Comaster nobilis in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Comaster nobilis can reach a diameter of about 40 cm. It has a cup-shaped body with 35-40 arms, extended out from the central disc. This species may occur in a number of colour variations. Usually it has yellow arms, sometimes with some black or green and white on the under surface close to the centre. It feeds on detritus, fitoplancton and zooplancton. The larvae of this feather star swim freely with plankton for a few weeks, then they settle down growing into a stalked form. Mature specimen break the stalk becoming free-living.

Distribution

This species is widespread in the Indo-Pacific, from Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef up to Indonesia, Malaysia, New Caledonia and Philippines.

Habitat

It is found on hard or soft corals in shallow water reefs, at a depth of 10 – 50 m.

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References


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