Oreaster reticulatus

Oreaster reticulatus (Linnaeus, 1758) is one of two members of the tropical family Oreasteridae known from the Atlantic Ocean. A. M. Clark and Downey (1992) give the distribution of O. reticulatus as western Atlantic, ranging from South Carolina to Brazil and throughout the Ca rib be an, and the distribution of Oreaster clavatus as Cape Verde Islands and west coast of Africa. O. reticulatus commonly occurs on open sand bottoms or seagrass beds at depths of meters to tens of meters (Scheibling 1980a,b, Scheibling and Metaxas 2001). It also is found in mangrove lagoons, rubble beds surrounding coral reefs, and habitats characterized by interspersed patches of seagrass and coral (Hendler et al. 1995, Wulff 1995, 2000, Guzmán and Guevara 2002, Scheibling and Metaxas 2010). O. reticulatus is the largest member of the Oreasteridae, with a radius (from the center of the disc to the tip of the arm, R) of up to 23 cm (Scheibling 1980c). It has a high, arched disc and is typically five-armed. Four- or six-armed individuals are uncommon, and seven-armed ones are rare. Adults are brightly colored, with red, orange, tan or yellow papular areas usually contrasting with the reticulate pattern of tubercles and short spines (Plate 16). Juveniles (R <12 cm) are usually green with a mottling of orange, brown, tan, or gray (Scheibling 1980b, Guzmán and Guevara 2002, Scheibling and Metaxas 2010). Unlike most tropical sea stars (with the exception of Acanthaster planci), the biology and ecol ogy of O. reticulatus is fairly well known. Nearly all of this knowledge has been acquired within past 35 years in studies that are centered in the Grenadines, U.S. Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Panama, and Belize and that form the basis of this review.