Ophiothela danae
Verrill, 1869
Enter the name for this tabbed section: Description
The commensal species Ophiothela danae is difficult to see because of its minute size. the disk rarely exceeds 1 in diameter and the 6 thin arms often mimics the color of its host. It lives on other organisms, particularly cnidarians and other echinoderms. One of the photographs show numerous O. danae coiled around the spines of the sea star Acanthaster planci. The last photograph show two specimens with only 3 arms on the surface of the pillow sea star, Culcita novaguineae.
Enter the name for this tabbed section: Distribution
It is a widespread species, in Oman and worldwide, across the Indo-Pacific biogeographic region.
IUCN status
Data deficient (DD)
Data deficient (DD)
Enter the name for this tabbed section: Ecology and Biology
Contrary to most other species of ophiuroids, this tiny species is epizoic and lives on other organisms, using their physical structures, branches, spines, as support. It may feed on the mucus of these species, often enriched with flocculated organic matter but probably also capture small planktonic organisms using their arms and tube feet.