Invasion History

First Non-native Panama (Caribbean) Tidal Record: 2002

Panama Invasion History:


Invasion history elsewhere in the world:

Ophiactis savignyi is considered a recent invader in the Mediterranean, which it apparently colonized through the Suez Canal, reaching Israel by 1948 (Galil 2007). In the Mediterranean, it is known from the Aegean Sea (in 1994, Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al. 2005), and the Gulf of Gabes, Tunisia (in 1973, United States Museum of Natural History 2008). One specimen was found in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France (in 1968, Guile 1968). It also occurs in the East Atlantic on Madeira (Jesus and Domingos 1998) and Senegal (United States National Museum of Natural History 2011).


Description

Ophiactis savignyi has a disk diameter of 2.5 - 5 mm, usually with six arms 13-20 mm in length. This brittle star reproduces by fission, and can regenerate lost arms, so numbers of arms can vary from 1-7. Small spines are scattered over the disk surface. On the ventral side of the disk, three scale-like oral papillae are present around the mouth, and the oral shields are large. On the dorsal side of the disk, the radial shields are large. The aboral arm plates are elliptical with rounded lateral margins, and a convex distal edge with a median lobe made prominent by a dark spot on either side. There are 5-6 arm spines on each arm segment. Body color ranges from brown to brown-green and cream. The radial shields are darker than the rest of the disk and generally have a patch of white along the outer tip. The arms are banded due to the dark markings on distal portions of the arm plates (Smithsonian Marine Station 2011; Stöhr 2011).


Taxonomy

Taxonomic Tree

Kingdom:   Animalia
Phylum:   Echinodermata
Class:   Stelleroidea
Subclass:   Ophiuroidea
Order:   Ophiurida
Suborder:   Gnathophiurina
Family:   Ophiactidae
Genus:   Ophiactis
Species:   savignyi Lineage B

Synonyms

Ophiactis brocki (Deloriol, 1893)
Ophiactis incisa (Von Martens, 1870)
Ophiactis krebsi (Luetken, 1856)
Ophiactis rheinhardtii (Luetken, 1859)
Ophiactis sexradia (Grube, 1857)
Ophiactis virescens (Luetken, 1856)
Ophiolepis savignyi (Müller and Troschel, 1842)

Potentially Misidentified Species

Ecology

General:

Ophiactis savignyi is a brittle star which reproduces sexually, broadcasting eggs and sperm, but it can also reproduce asexually by fission. Animals inhabiting sponges tend to be of one sex, dominated by immature animals, and appear to be dependent on asexual reproduction. There appears to be a trade-off between sexual and asexual reproduction, with asexual reproduction being more likely in populations with a lower probability of fertilization. Males are more likely to divide than females, which are more likely to lose their gonads after fission, resulting in a skewed sex ratio (McGovern 2002; McGovern 2003). Ophiactis savignyi can be found in a variety of habitats including rocky shores and seaweed beds, the interior of sponges, mangroves, corals, docks, and boat hulls (Roy and Sponer 2002; McGovern 2003).

Food:

detritus, foraminfera, benthic invertebrates

Trophic Status:

Deposit Feeder

DepFed

Habitats

General HabitatCoral reefNone
General HabitatGrass BedNone
General HabitatMarinas & DocksNone
General HabitatVessel HullNone
General HabitatRockyNone
General HabitatUnstructured BottomNone
Salinity RangePolyhaline18-30 PSU
Salinity RangeEuhaline30-40 PSU
Tidal RangeSubtidalNone
Vertical HabitatEpibenthicNone


Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Maximum Duration30Larval duration, approximate, Roy and Sponer 2002
Minimum Length (mm)28.5Adult radius (disk + arms)
Maximum Length (mm)45Adult radius (disk + arms)
Broad Temperature RangeNoneWarm temperate-Tropical
Broad Salinity RangeNonePolyhaline-Euhaline

General Impacts

No direct impacts have been reported for this species, but they could be substantial, given the high abundance of this brittle star in some locations.

Regional Distribution Map

Bioregion Region Name Year Invasion Status Population Status
PAN_CAR Panama Caribbean Coast 2002 Def Estab
PAN_PAC Panama Pacific Coast 1904 Crypto Estab

Occurrence Map

OCC_ID Author Year Date Locality Status Latitude Longitude

References

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Guille, Alain (1968) Sur la presence de Ophiactis savgnyi Muller and Troschel dans la region de Banyls-sur-Mer., Vie et Milieu Serie A: Biologie Marine 19(2A): 497-500

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Hendler, Gordon; Brugneaux, Sophie J. (2013) New records of brittle stars from French Guiana: Ophiactis savignyi and the alien species Ophiothela mirabilis (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea), Marine Biodiversity Records 6: e113

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Lima, Maria Lilian F; Correia, Monica D.; Sovierzoski, Hilda H.; Cynthia L. C. Manso (2011) New records of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata) from shallow waters off Maceio, State of Alagoas, Brazil, Marine Biodiversity Records 4: 1-10

McGovern, Tamara M. (2002) Sex-ratio bias and clonal reproduction in the brittle star Ophiactis savignyi., Evolution 56(3): 511-517

McGovern, Tamara M. (2003) Plastic reproductive strategies in a clonal marine invertebrate., Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Biological Sciences. 270(1532): 2517-2522

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Roy, M. S.; Sponer, R. (2002) Evidence of a human-mediated invasion of the tropical western Atlantic by the world's most common brittlestar., Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B 269: 1017-1023

Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce 2011 Field Guide to the Indian River Lagoon. <missing URL>



Stöhr, Sabine (Ed.) 2011 World Ophiuroidea Database. <missing URL>



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Zibrowius, Helmut (2002) Assessing scale and impact of ship-transported alien fauna in the Mediterranean?, CIESM Workshop Monographs 20: 63-68