The Crinoid Fauna (Echinodermata: Crinoidea) of Palau.

Abstract

Taxonomic revisions and a recent survey using scuba place the number of shallow-water (<50 m) crinoid species known from Palau at 22. Five are new records: Clarkcomanthus littoralis, Comanthus suavia, Alloeocomatella pectinifera, Oxycomanthus comanthipinna, and O. exilis. A submersible survey (to 310 m) recovered five additional new records, four of which are the first representatives of their families from Palauan waters: Eudiocrinus venustulus (Eudiocrinidae), Glyptometra sp. (Charitometridae), Cosmiometra belsuchel Messing, n. sp. (Thalassometridae), and Porphyrocrinus verrucosus (Phrynocrinidae), the first stalked crinoid recorded from Palau. Two of the three specimens of the latter have regenerating crowns, suggesting that this species may be subject to substantial predation or an unstable environment.