Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, B.C. 



Volume 115 1964 Number 3478 



ASTEROIDEA OF THE BLUE DOLPHIN EXPEDITIONS 

 TO LABRADOR 



By E. H. Grainger 



Introduction 



During the four summer field seasons of 1949 to 1952 the Blue 

 Dolphin expeditions, commanded by David C. Nutt, collected 321 

 specimens of sea stars at 57 stations along the coast of Labrador. 

 Eleven species were taken. 



Fevi^ collections of marine invertebrates from the Labrador coast 

 preceded the Blue Dolphin voyages, and little information exists on 

 the invertebrate fauna of the region. Only three publications on 

 asteroid collections from Labrador are available, and they refer to 

 six species in all. Packard (1867) reported from several locations in 

 southern Labrador Solaster papposus (Linnaeus), S. endeca (Linnaeus), 

 Henricia sanguinolenta (O. F. M tiller), Leptasterias groenlandica 

 (Steenstrup) , and L. polaris (M tiller and Troschel), the latter taken 

 also at Hopedale, about half way along the Labrador coast. Bush 

 (1884) recorded Solaster papposus, Henricia sanguinolenta, Leptasterias 

 littoralis (Stimpson), and L. polaris, and Rankin (1901) L. polaris only, 

 all from southern Labrador. Packard (1863, 1867) listed Asterias 

 vulgaris Verrill from the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence near 

 the Quebec-Labrador boundary. The species, however, has not yet 

 been reported from the Strait of Belle Isle or north of there, and 

 therefore it is not properly a member of the Labrador fauna. The 



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