Macrosymbionts of starfish Echinaster luzonicus (Gray, 1840) in the waters of a volcanic western Pacific island

Abstract

During an investigation program of faunal diversity in the shallow reef zone of the active volcanic island off northeastern Taiwan in July and September 2020, numerous individuals of the starfish Echinaster luzonicus (Gray, 1840) were found, and some individuals were found with associated symbionts. Starfish sampling in the 150-m coral reef zone was undertaken at a depth of 8 m through scuba diving. For each type of potential macrosymbiont, both the dorsal and ventral sides were carefully examined. The prevalence of macrosymbionts on the starfish E. luzonicus was recorded. The most common symbiotic organism on E. luzonicus was the ectoparasitic snail Melanella martinii (A. Adams in Sowerby, 1854), followed by the pontoniine shrimp Zenopontonia soror (Nobili, 1904) and the rare polychaete scaleworm Asterophilia carlae Hanley, 1989. The prevalence ratio with host E. luzonicus was low and varied by 8.62% and 4.35%, 6.03% and 0%, and 0.86% and 0.72% in July and September 2020 for M. martinii, Z. soror, and A. carlae, respectively. The present study is the first to discover the scaleworm A. carlae as a macrosymbiont of the tropical starfish E. luzonicus, with a widespread distribution, off Taiwan’s northeastern coast, an area influenced by the Kuroshio Current.