T 



ASTEROIDEA 



By Walter K. Fisher 



Director, Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University 



(Plates I-XXIII ; Text-figs. A-M) 



INTRODUCTION 



HIS report deals with the sea stars collected by the 'Discovery', the 'Discovery 

 11 ', and the 'William Scoresby' during the years 1925-36 in sub-Antarctic and 

 Antarctic seas from the Falkland Island region to South Georgia, South Sandwich 

 Group, South Orkneys, Antarctic Archipelago, and Ross Sea. A few hauls were made 

 off Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, Bouvet Island, and Marion Island. Certain species 

 from Africa and elsewhere, which do not pertain to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic 

 faunas, have been listed separately. 



Our knowledge of the Asteroid fauna of the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic seas is chiefly 

 derived from the work of Koehler, based on the collections of the ' Scotia ', the ' Nimrod ', 

 the ' Pourquoi-Pas? ', the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, and the Swedish Antarctic 

 Expedition. But much earlier the ' Challenger' occupied a number of stations between 

 Prince Edward Islands and the Magellanic region, which included Kerguelen, Heard, 

 and two stations (153, 156) near the Antarctic Circle at longitude jgV and 95 F E. In 

 the Challenger Report Sladen described numerous now familiar sub-Antarctic species 

 and also the following Antarctic forms : 



Hyphalaster planus P- stellifer 



Lonchotaster forcipifer Hy menus ter nobilis 



Mimastrella cognala (olim Mimaster) H. formosus 



Bathybiaster loripes obesus H. saccuhitus 



Benthopecten antarcticus (olim Pararchasier) H. caelatus 



Acodontaster eIon«citiis (olim Gnatliastcr) H. crucijer 



Chitonaster cataphraclus H. latehrosus 



Perknaster fuscus Freyella fragilissima 



P. densiis Pedicellasler hypernotius 



Porania antarcUca glabra Labidiaster annulatus 



Solaster regularis subaictiatus Smilasterias triretnis 

 Pterasler rugatus 



As these comprise around 20 per cent of the entire list of Antarctic sea stars, it will be 

 seen that the ' Challenger ' was in every sense a real pioneer. 



Another important contribution is Perrier's (1891) report on the collections made in 

 1882-3 by the 'Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn'. This paper furnished a number of 

 new sub-Antarctic species, still valid, and not a few nomenclatorial tangles. Only two of 

 Perrier's species, Perknaster sladeni and Pteraster lebruni, extend into Antarctic waters. 



