Ophiuroidea | 
Amphilepidida | 
Amphiuridae
			
			
			
				Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range				
				
					Ecology				
				
			
			
				Benthic; depth range 5 - 1200 m (Ref. 85345).  Temperate; 75°N -   30°N, 33°W -   42°E			
			
			
				
			
			
			
				Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean:  Europe.  Temperate and subtropical.
			
			
			
			
			
				Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
			
			
				Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm			
			
			
						
			
			
			
			
				
					Commonly found at depth >30 m, in fine sand sediments (Ref. 96521).  Free-living (Ref. 3123).  A mobile suspension feeder (Refs. 95752, 96501).  When feeding, its disc is buried 4 to 8 cm below the sediment surface, while its two arms are extended into the column (Ref. 113568).				
			
			
			
			
			
				Life cycle and mating behavior				
					Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae				
			
			
				
					Members of the class Ophiuroidea are mostly gonochoric, others are protandric.  Fertilization is external.  Brooding is common, bursae is used as brood chambers where the embryos develop into juveniles and later crawl out from the bursal slits.  Life cycle:  Embryos hatch into free-swimming planktotrophic larvae and later metamorphose into tiny brittle stars which sink down the bottom where they grow into adult form.				
			
			
			
			
			
				Garmendia, J.M., J.M. Parada and J. Mora 2003 Niveles de penetración de los diferentes grupos macroinfaunales en los sedimentos arenosos sublitorales de la ría de Ares y Betanzos (Galicia) (noroeste de la península Ibérica). Bol. Inst. Esp. Oceanogr. 19 (1-4):283-291. (Ref. 2795)
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
					
						IUCN Red List Status    
						 (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)
					
					
					
				
			
			
			
			
				CITES status   (Ref. 108899)
			
			
				
					Not Evaluated				
			
			
			
			
			
			
				
					Not Evaluated				
			
			
			
			
			
				Threat to humans  
			
			
				
									
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
			
				Human uses  
			
			
							
			
			
				 | FishSource | 			
			
			
			
			
			
Tools
			
			
			
			
				
					More information				
				
					 Trophic EcologyFood items (preys)Diet compositionFood consumptionPredators   Population dynamicsGrowthMax. ages / sizesLength-weight rel.Length-length rel.Length-frequenciesMass conversionAbundance   Life cycleReproductionMaturityFecunditySpawningEggsEgg developmentLarvae   PhysiologyOxygen consumption
  Human RelatedStamps, coins, misc.
  
			 
			
			
			
				Internet sources
			
			
			
			
			
				Estimates based on models
			
			
			
									
						Preferred temperature  					
				 (Ref. 
115969): 5.2 - 11.3, mean 7.4 (based on 306 cells).			
 
			
			
			
			
			
						
						
						
			
									
						Price category  					
					
					Unknown.