Luidia iwakiensis n. sp. (Asteroidea, Echinodermata) is described in Japanese waters. A molecular phylogenetic analysis including 18 Luidia species supported Döderlein L (1920, Siboga Expedition 4, 193–291) four morphogroups. Morphological reconsideration revealed three of the eight criteria of the morphogroup adopted by Döderlein were justified, but the remaining five characters were rejected. The placement of the new species in the Ciliaris-group was supported by molecular as well as morphological evidence, however, it varies from other species of Ciliaris-group by arm number, length of major inferomarginal spines, and pedicellariae on actinal plates.

The Caymanostellidae is a family of rarely encountered wood-dwelling deep-sea sea-stars, with only six species, in two genera, described to date. During the COBERPES 5 expedition on board the RV ‘Justo Sierra’, off Tabasco, Gulf of Mexico in 2013, 12 specimens were recovered from a single piece of sunken wood. Herein we describe a new genus and species of caymanostellid, Crinitostella laguardai gen. nov., sp. nov. This species represents the shallowest known caymanostellid (418–427 m depth), and the first known occurrence of the Caymanostellidae from the Gulf of Mexico. The family Caymanostellidae displays affinities with several groups, such as Asterinidae and Korethrasteridae, making it difficult to infer its phylogenetic position evidenced by the myriad of contrasting phylogenetic hypotheses proposed. In an attempt to shed some light on the phylogenetic relationships of the family, sequences of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of the new species were generated and combined with published data. As previously suggested, caymanostellids seem to be part of valvatacean polytomy rather than velatids.

A fragmentary and partially dissociated arm of an astropectinid starfish, assigned to the genus Astropecten Gray, 1840, is recorded from decalcified and limonitised, fine-grained sandstone concretions and slabs of late Miocene (Tortonian) age, collected from the former gravel and sand pit ‘de Hoogdonk’ near Liessel, province of Noord-Brabant. Added are two examples of the ichnofossil Asteriacites lumbricalis von Schlotheim, 1820, both preserved in convex hyporelief and co-occurring with other, indeterminate traces. Although astropectinids have been recorded previously from Miocene and Pliocene deposits in the Netherlands, the present is the first record of fossilised traces of starfish.

The first starfish bed to be recognized from the Antilles is a lensoid body in the middle Miocene Grand Bay Formation of Carriacou, The Grenadines (West Indies). This unit was deposited in a turbidite basin in a region of active volcanism fed from one centre and preserves common deep-water taxa more typical of the Palaeozoic, such as crinoids and brachiopods. The starfish bed is a channel-fill deposit laid down in at least 150–200 m water depth, although the specimens may have been derived from shallower water. A goniasterid asteroid and an ophiacanthid ophiuroid have been recognized. The first articulated asteroid from the Antillean fossil record is Paragonaster(?) haldixoni sp. nov. In all skeletal features it appears close to the extant Atlantic species Paragonaster grandis H. L. Clark and P. subtilis (Perrier), but differs in having a single row of rectangular abactinal ossicles extending to the arm tip; these are longer than wide. The brittlestar, Ophiocamax ventosa sp. nov., is described on the basis of a fragmentary disc and arms from this deposit. The closest similarities are with the extant tropical western Atlantic species Ophiocamax hystrix Lyman and O. austera Verrill. However, the new species has thorns covering the entire surface of dorsal arm plates, while arm spines have a multitude of small thorns, loosely arranged in numerous rows and dorsal arm plate shape differs markedly. The occurrence of O. ventosa sp. nov. suggests that Ophiocamax has been a deep-sea taxon at least since the Miocene.

A method was developed to attach underwater acoustic transmitters on the knobby sea star Protoreaster nodosus. Cylindrical transmitters, each measuring 36 mm length × 13 mm diameter in size and 11 g in weight, were used in this study. Each transmitter was placed in a neoprene holder that was attached externally to the middle of one arm of P. nodosus with a nylon monofilament fishing line. Attachment was achieved by threading the monofilament line through two small perforations aborally along its mid-ridge and adorally through the ambulacral groove. Some 36 individuals were successfully tagged over a three-year period between 2007 and 2010 on an intertidal reef in Singapore using this technique. Tagging did not appear to affect survival, feeding or movement of sea stars during the period of attachment, which averaged 60 days. This method may work equally well with other types of tags, such as depth recorders and accelerometers.

Three specimens of Atlantic starfish, Asterias rubens are here reported as the first record from the Black Sea. After being first reported from the Bosphorus Strait in 1996, this alien starfish has invaded the Sea of Marmara and is now extending its range of distribution to the Black Sea.

The first record for the asteroid Dytaster gilberti in the western Pacific is given.

The brooded embryos and/or juveniles of the sea stars Neosmilaster georgianus (Studer, 1885) and Lysasterias perrieri (Studer, 1885) and the isopod Glyptonotus antarcticus (Eights, 1853) were examined for their acceptability using the sympatric sea star Odontaster validus (Koehler, 1906) as a predator. Organic extracts were prepared from embryos of both sea stars and juveniles of Lyasterias perrieri and Glyptonotus antarcticus and tested in alginate food pellets to confirm whether lack of acceptability was chemically based. We found both intact whole embryos and juveniles of the sea star Neosmilaster georgianus were not acceptable to Odontaster validus. A methanol extract of the embryos was palatable. This could be the result of either the sequestration of deterrent chemicals within embryos or the presence of noxious compounds that were not extractable in methanol. Embryos and juveniles of the sea star Lysasterias perrieri were not acceptable to sea stars. Food pellets containing methanol extracts of unacceptable embryos were deterrent against sea stars, suggesting a chemical defence. Juvenile brooded isopods (Glyptonotus antarcticus) were also found to be unacceptable in sea star feeding bioassays. Significant rejection of alginate pellets containing a lipophilic dichloromethane methanol extract of juveniles indicated that this lack of acceptability was chemically based. Our study provides further support for chemical defences in the offspring of brooding lecithotrophic Antarctic marine invertebrates.