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Vertical posture of the clypeasteroid sand dollar Encope michelini

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2004

John M. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
Joan Herrera
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
Janessa Cobb
Affiliation:
Florida Marine Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, St Petersburg, Florida 33701, USA

Abstract

Vertical posture has been studied only in the scutellid sand dollar Dendraster excentricus although it has been reported in another Dendraster species and two species of laganid sand-dollars. The vertical posture has been associated with the posterior eccentric position of the apical system and petals of the test. We have discovered the scutellid sand dollar Encope michelini, which shows no eccentricity of the apical system and petals, also has the vertical posture in the population studied. Absence of eccentricity of the apical system and petals in living and fossil sand-dollars does not indicate absence of the vertical posture.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2004 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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