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Individual recognition and phenotypic variability in Acanthaster planci (Echinodermata: Asteroidea)

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Summary

A coding method for identifying individuals by utilizing natural attributes (numbers and disposition of arms, madrporites, anuses, spines and deformities) permits individual recognition of crown-of-thorns sea stars Acanthaster planci. Because natural injuries altering parts of the code are frequent in A. planci (present in 20% to 40% of the individuals in a population), the physiognomy of the centrally located periproct, which is much less frequently injured than peripherally located areas, was used in combination with the arrangement of arms and madreporites. Identical madreporite/arm codes occurred in fewer sea stars in Guam (0%) than in Panamá (14%). The greater variability among sea stars at the western Pacific locality could be due in part to the higher incidence of gross deformities (presumed injuries) in Guam (43%) compared with Panamá (17%).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Panamá

    P. W. Glynn

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  1. P. W. Glynn
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Glynn, P.W. Individual recognition and phenotypic variability in Acanthaster planci (Echinodermata: Asteroidea). Coral Reefs 1, 89–94 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00301690

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00301690

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