Fishers Of The Coast Of Japan Discovered A New Species Of Starfish, Named After The Boat That Dragged It To The Surface
Off the coast of central Japan, a fishing boat caught a small, bright red, bumpy sea creature from the ocean floor. It turned out to be a new species of starfish.
The discovery of the new species came about thanks to the collaborative efforts of researchers at the University of Tokyo, Marine Science Museum, Enoshima Aquarium, Fukushima Prefecture, and the Yamaguchi Prefectural Fisheries Research Center in Japan.
The starfish has been named Paragonaster hoeimaruae. It belongs to the family Pseudarchasteridae, echinoderms that live in shallow and medium-depth oceans. They are known for having flat bodies and “block-like” plates on their legs.
The new species has a similar appearance. It has five thick legs that are covered with bumps. Some of the plates are “oblong,” while others are more circular or rectangular. The sea star is red on the surface, but its bottom is beige. Suckered discs on its body help the creature move across the ocean floor.
There are about 2,000 species of starfish known to science, and 250 of them live around Japan. So far, only four species of Pseudarchasteridae, including the recently discovered one, have been recorded in Japanese waters at depths between 500 and 1,100 feet.
“We discovered the starfish — newly named Paragonaster hoeimaruae — off the coast of the Izu Peninsula in the Sagami Bay, south of Tokyo. We also found another in the Sea of Japan, northwest of Yamaguchi Prefecture in southwestern Japan,” said Itaru Kobayashi, the lead researcher from the Misaki Marine Biological Station of the University of Tokyo.
Between 2021 and 2023, the research team gathered a variety of species from around Japan. They were collected by fishers in Hokkaido and Shizuoka prefectures in northern and central Japan.
The fishers used shrimp and crab cages, as well as large nets, to catch the animals. The starfish was named after the boat that dragged it to the surface, Hoei-maru.
Another notable starfish that the researchers encountered was Gephyreaster swifti. It was found off the north coast of Hokkaido. Previously, it had only been seen from the Pacific west coast of the United States and Canada to the northern islands in the Bering Sea.
efired – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual starfish
According to the Pacific Beach Coalition, starfish are not really fish at all. Despite their name, they are more closely related to sand dollars, spiky sea urchins, and squishy sea cucumbers.
They may appear limp and helpless when washed up on a beach, but they are actually important predators. They have no brain or blood and use their tiny suction cups to grab food.
The discovery of Paragonaster hoeimaruae shows how important it is for researchers to work together in order to make scientific progress. It also points to how much exploration is needed to uncover the diversity of the oceans.
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