Ophiothela venusta (de Loriol, 1900)

Figs 8 G–K, 9

Ophiocnemis venusta Loriol, 1900: 81 pl. 8, figs 2, 3.

Ophiothela venusta — Clark & Rowe 1971: 117 .

Material examined: Persian Gulf, Iran, Bustaneh, intertidal, on gorgonians ( Subergorgia suberosa (Pallas, 1766)), hand collected, May 2018, collector Yaser Fatemi, 32 spms, 2.8–6.5 mm dd [SMNH-178937].

Habitat: Associated with gorgonians on subtidal sand, grass bed and artificial structures (e.g. shipwrecks), probably always epizoic, intertidal and 1–32 m (Price 1981, 1983; Jones 1986; Peyghan et al. 2018; present study) (Fig. 2B).

Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman: Bushehr (2), Jubail (19), Ras Tanura (24), Tarut Bay (25), Manifa (29), Kuwait (ibid.).

Indian Ocean: East Africa, Madagascar and East India (Clark & Rowe 1971), South Africa (Clark 1974), Madagascar (Cherbonnier & Guille 1978), Seychelles (Clark 1980).

Remarks: The variable morphology of this species was treated in detail by Cherbonnier & Guille (1978) and by Peyghan et al. (2018). Specimens with regenerating arms and pentamerous body symmetry are here assigned to O. venusta (Fig. 8 G–K) but may belong to the unidentified species of Ophiothela or to O. danae . The disc granules vary in size, with some individuals having uniformly small granules, others presenting larger granules in the disc center and in the interradii (Fig. 9 H–J).

Records of O. venusta from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by Sadhukan & Raghunathan (2011) were based on a misidentified Ophiocoma sp., probably O. scolopendrina (likewise their Dougaloplus echinatus is Ophiocoma sp.).