Systematics and Ecology of the Sea-Urchin Genus Centrostephanus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) from the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans

Abstract

Surveys by the Johnson-Sea-Link submersibles have revealed the presence of large populations of black Centrostephanus, superficially resembling Diadema antillarum Philippi, along the shelf edge prominences off the east coast of Florida in depths of 48-80 meters. Typical habitats are aggregations of dead coral rubble, with seasonal growths of leafy red algae. Some aspects of the biology of these echinoids are described. We affirm that only a single species of the genus, Centrostephanus longispinus (Philippi), occurs in the Atlantic Ocean. As Fell (1975) and Serafy (1979) have shown, western Atlantic populations can be referred to the subspecies Centrostephanus longispinus rubicingulus H.L. Clark, which usually differs from the typical subspecies in possessing uniformly black spines rather than banded purple and yellowish white spines when fully grown. C. besnardi Bernasconi from Isla Trindade, Brazil, is herein synonymized with C. longispinus rubicingulus. C. coronatus (Verrill) from California and the Galapagos Islands differs little from C. longispinus and the two species may yet prove to be subjective synonyms. There is some evidence to suggest that Gulf of California populations of C. coronatus differs from California populations at the subspecies level.