60 ECHINODERMS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 



6-8 furrow s})iiu's of about t'([ual size. Paxillse of the dorsal side 

 small, arranged in fairly regular transverse series in the basal 

 part of the arms. R = ea. 4-5, 5 r. 



In life, colour pale pink or Avhitish. The skin is somewhat 

 gelatinous ; the living specimens, therefore, are as a rule rather 

 slimy. Grows to a size of ca. 10 cm. R ; it appears to reach full 

 size in the course of four years. Its food consists of molluscs, 

 especially small mussels, echinoderms (young spatangoids). 



Fig. 33. — PsUaster andromeda. Nat. size. 

 (From Damnark's Fauna.) 



foraminifera, etc. It prefers a soft, muddy bottom. Develop- 

 ment unknown, but its large, yolky eggs indicate direct develop- 

 ment, without a pelagic larval stage. 



Common in deeper w^aters off the W. coast of Ireland, especi- 

 ally in depths of ca. 700-900 m. It is distributed from the 

 Murman Coast to the Cape Verde Islands and the Azores. Also 

 at the American Coast from Davis Strait to 38° N.^ Bathy- 

 metrical distribution, ca. 70-1850 m. (Exceptionally found at a 

 dej)th as small as 19 m.). 



3. Bathy blaster Dan. and Koren. 



Very much like PsUaster, from which it differs mainly in the 

 adambulacrals projecting into the wide ambulacral furrow, the 

 median furrow spine being considerably longer than the rest of 

 them (Fig. 34). 



^ The American form has been described as a separate species, PsUaster 

 fiorce Verrill, but can hardly be distinguished from the European form. 



