Spatangus purpureus Muller 1776
- Dataset
- The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean)
- Rank
- SPECIES
Classification
- kingdom
- Animalia
- phylum
- Echinodermata
- class
- Echinoidea
- order
- Spatangoida
- family
- Spatangidae
- genus
- Spatangus
- species
- Spatangus purpureus
materials_examined
Reports for the Azores:
materials_examined
See: Mortensen (1951 b: 10 – 14); Schultz (2006: 427 – 428, figs. 802 – 804). Occurrence: Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea (Tortonese 1965), from Iceland and Scandinavia along European and African coasts to Senegal (Mortensen 1951 b); possibly also occurring in Cape Verde and Angola (Mortensen 1951 a). Depth: 0 – 900 m (Koehler 1914 b). Habitat: soft substrates, preferably on coarse sand or gravel, in which it lies wholly buried where it feeds on all sorts of bottom particles and organisms (Mortensen 1927 a). Larval stage: planktotrophic (c. 3 weeks; Mortensen 1913). Remarks: Agassiz (1881) identified the species Spatangus purpureus among the material collected by H. M. S. Challenger (sta 75: 38 ° 37 ’ N, 28 ° 30 ’ W, 92 – 165 m) in Azorean waters (no description was given). However, the existence of such specimen (s) could not be confirmed by H. L. Clark (1925) or Mortensen (1951 b). Furthermore, the only other H. M. S. Challenger specimen identified by Agassiz (1881) as belonging to this species (off Bermuda) later proved to be a misidentification (see Mortensen 1907). Thus, the presence in the Azores of S. purpureus remains unconfirmed.
Name
- Homonyms
- Spatangus purpureus Muller 1776