121 — Resilient brittle star, Ophiactis resiliens

Ophiactis resiliens, from under a road bridge
along Tamaki Drive, Auckland, 12/9/18.
This is at half speed.

O. resiliens, from under a road bridge
along Tamaki Drive, Auckland, 12/9/18.

O. resiliens, from under a stone,
Tamaki Drive, Auckland, 2017.

O. resiliens, from under a road bridge
along Tamaki Drive, Auckland, 12/9/18.

As above, this example is about 40mm across.

O. resiliens, from under a turnable rock,
Bowentown, Bay of Plenty, 6/11/17. This
example is only ~15mm across.

The resilient brittle star Ophiactis resiliens* is another small brittle star and one without a common name But, apparently, resiliens means rebounding or resilient, so I'm calling it the resilient brittle star.

They can be found at low tide around northern New Zealand and southern Australia down to reasonable depths (Mills et al., 2017). At low-tide you can find them under and between rocks; and sometimes along with other common intertidal brittle stars (mottled, oar, and Hutton's brittle stars).

Ophiactis resiliens is what’s called a suspension feeder: feeding on small organic particles in the water around it. It does this by waving its arms around in the water directly above it. The arms have little tube feet, which the brittle star uses to collect its food.

They have separate sexes and in Australian waters spawn during the winter months.**


*Lyman, 1879















































More info:

Mills et al. (2017). Extraordinary echinoderms. A guide to the echinoderms of New Zealand.

**Faulkner, I., Byrne, M., (2003). Reproduction of Ophiactis resiliens (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) in New South Wales with observations on recruitment. Marine Biology, 143(3), 459–466.

**Selvakumaraswany, P., Byrne, M. (2000). Reproduction, spawning, and development of 5 ophiuroids from Australia and New Zealand. Invertebrate Biology, 119(4), 394–402.