201), and from a reef at 18 m depth off Palm Beach, Florida (1/13/19, Daniel Wesley, personal communication, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2019). Ophiothela mirabilis has been reported from Dania Beach, Florida in October 2018 (Glynn et al. North American Invasion History: Invasion History on the East Coast: Most species in the family Ophiuroidea can reproduce sexually, and have planktonic larvae, but sexual reproduction has not been determined for O. It can reproduce by fission and can rapidly reach high densities on bryozoans, and sponges. This brittle star could be easily transported in the fouling communities of ships. The first records of this brittle star in US Atlantic waters are from October 2018, when it was reported in Dania Beach, FL and later off nearby Palm Beach (26.67 N), (Daniel Wesley, personal communication, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2019 Glynn et al. Vincent in the Caribbean (13.1783 N, Mantelatto et al. Its published range now extends from Santa Catarina State, Brazil (-26.3838S) to St. In 2000, this brittle star was reported from Ilha do Pai, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, the first record of this genus in the Atlantic Ocean. Very similar, possibly indistinguishable, species of Ophiothela exist in Australia, and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, so it is possible that this species has a much larger native range (Clark 1976 Hendler et al. It is one of a group of epizoic brittle stars that inhabit sessile organisms, including sponges, corals, gorgonians, bryozoans, and tunicates (Clark 1976 Mantelatto et al. National Museum of Natural History 2019). ![]() ![]() The brittle star Ophiothela mirabilis was described from the Pearl Islands, Panama (Verrill 1867), and is known from Baja California, Mexico to Panama and the Galapagos Islands (Alvarado et al. First Non-native North American Tidal Record: 2017 First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record: First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record: 2017
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