Psammechinus miliaris ? (Muller, in Knorr 1771
- Dataset
- The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean)
- Rank
- SPECIES
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Echinodermata
- class
- Echinoidea
- order
- Camarodonta
- family
- Parechinidae
- genus
- Psammechinus
- species
- Psammechinus miliaris
materials_examined
Reports for the Azores:
materials_examined
See: Mortensen (1943 a); Schultz (2006). Occurrence: Northeast Atlantic, from Iceland and Scandinavia (Mortensen 1903) to Cape Blanc (Mortensen 1925, Nobre 1938), including the? Azores (Barrois 1888),? Madeira (Jesus & Abreu 1998),? Canaries and? Cape Verde (Tortonese 1965). Depth: 0 – 100 m (Mortensen 1927 a);? AZO: 10 – 20 m (Barrois 1888). Habitat: virtually any kind of bottom (on bouldery sheltered shores, among sea-grass or algae, under stones, on rocks; Picton 1993); omnivorous, depending on the bottom on which it lives (Mortensen 1943 a). Larval stage: planktotrophic (Emlet 1995). Commercial value: edible (Lawrence, J. M. 2007). Remarks: Psammechinus microtuberculatus (Blainville, 1825) was frequently reported from the Azores, unfortunately without descriptions. Koehler (1921 b) showed some concerns about the records for the Atlantic, since he believed that the geographical range of this species did not go further than the Iberian Peninsula. Mortensen (1927 b, 1943 a) stated that the species Psammechinus microtuberculatus was endemic to the Mediterranean Sea and all reports of this species in the NE Atlantic were a result of misidentifications with close related species Psammechinus miliaris or Paracentrotus lividus. Additionally, on reviewing the material collected by Simroth (unreported) Mortensen (1943 a) concluded that the animals were far too small (D = 2.5 mm) to allow a reliable identification. Mortensen also added that the material report by Barrois (1888) from the Azores as P. microtuberculatus was presumably lost. We have no knowledge on the whereabouts of Castro & Viegas (1983) material or even if any specimens were actually deposited in a collection. The specimens identified by Marques (1983) as Psammechinus microtuberculatus (housed in the zoological collections of Museu of Bocage – MNHM) proved to be juveniles of Paracentrotus lividus, a common inhabitant of the Azores coastal waters (see remarks under Paracentrotus lividus). After critically examining the echinoid extant material in the DBUA-ECH collection we could not find a single specimen belonging to either P. microtuberculatus or P. miliaris. In sum, the only known Psammechinus material from the Azores is either lost or too small to allow a reliable identification. Both P. miliaris and P. microtuberculatus species have a planktotrophic larval development with a high dispersal potential (Emlet 1995). Thus, it is not entirely unlikely that new recruits from the NE Atlantic or even Mediterranean continental coasts could have reached the insular coasts. Furthermore, it is not unprecedented to have Mediterranean species present in the Azores (e. g., the sea star Sclerasterias richardi). Nevertheless, we follow Mortensen (1943 a) in assigning the historical reports of P. microtuberculatus from the Azores to P. miliaris. In the absence of well documented adult specimens, the presence of P. miliaris in the Azores, however, needs to remain doubtful until confirmed by new records.