Echinoderms are a major group of marine invertebrates that often play integral roles within the ecosystem. Studies about their occurrence, abundance, and distribution in Venezuela focused central-eastern coasts; hence aim this study is to describe echinoderm community north-western coast Gulf Venezuela. Samples were collected from three sites Venezuelan Guajira Peninsula (Castilletes, Porshoure...

The SALMFamides are a family of neuropeptides that act as muscle relaxants in echinoderms. Two types of SALMFamides have been identified: L-type (e.g. the starfish neuropeptides S1 and S2) with the C-terminal motif LxFamide (x is variable) and F-type with the C-terminal motif FxFamide. In the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (class Echinoidea) there are two SALMFamide genes, one encodin...

Embryos and larvae of an isocrinid sea lily, Metacrinus rotundus, are described by scanning electron microscopy. Around hatching (35 h after fertilization), the outer surface of the gastrula becomes ubiquitously covered with short cilia. At 40 h, the hatched swimming embryo develops a cilia-free zone of ectoderm on the ventral side. By 3 days, the very early dipleurula larva develops a cilia-fr...

The scientific names published for species and subspecies in the genus Acanthaster Gervais (Asteroidea: Valvatida: Acanthasteridae) are reviewed, with particular attention to the A. planci species group (crown-of-thorn starfish, COTS). Several problems with earlier nomenclatural and bibliographic data are resolved. The available name for the type species of Acanthaster in the original combinati...

Asexual reproduction in larvae, larval cloning, is a recently recognized component of the complex life histories of asteroids. We compare DNA sequences of mitochondrial tRNA genes (Ala, Leu, Asn, Pro, and Gln) from larvae in the process of cloning collected in the field with sequences from adults of known species in order to identify asteroid taxa capable of cloning. Neighbor-joining analysis i...