THE STARFISHES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
By WALTER K. FISHER. 
Acting Instructor in Zoology , Leland Stanford Junior University. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The specimens upon which the following report is based were collected by the 
U. S. fisheries steamer Albatross among the Hawaiian Islands during the spring and 
summer of 1902. A small collection taken off the south coast of Oahu by the 
Albatross in 1891 has likewise been examined, and there must also be added a single 
example of “ Goniodiscus ” sebae, collected by Mr. H. W. Henshaw in the vicinity of 
Hilo, Hawaii. Altogether the collection numbers very nearly 1,650 specimens, 
and includes 60 species, of which 52 are new to science, 5 are for the first time 
recorded from the Hawaiian Islands, and 3 are too young or in too poor condition 
for naming. In other words, the Albatross took but 1 species that had been previously 
reported from the region. Ten species which had been recorded were not secured 
by the Albatross expedition. 
The present report may be considered a monographic account of Hawaiian 
starfishes which occur between the shore and the thousand-fathom line. In their 
proper places I have listed the 10 species already recorded from the islands which 
were not secured by the Albatross. It is certainly surprising that such forms as 
Archaster ty ficus , Gymnasteria carinifera , Asterina granulosa , Gulcita arenosa , or 
Heliaster multiradiata , all very shallow- water forms and usually occurring on shores 
or reefs, were not taken. The most important collecting grounds in the future 
will be the very shallow water near shore, on the windward sides of the islands. 
If hempen tangles are dragged over the bottom, undoubtedly other widely 
distributed species will be found. Coral reefs (not the exposed ones) should be 
most prolific. 
I have included keys, and in a chapter at the end of the article have listed the 
principal technical terms; but the general naturalist will find, as a rule, that the 
figures of the whole animal are a quicker and surer means of identification. 
Unfortunately a number of the shallow-water species can not be figured. 
The arrangement of families in this report does not follow exactly that of any 
previous author, but in general may be said to be modeled after Sladen and Perrier 
as modified by V errill. It is very difficult to arrange the socalled families of star- 
fishes satisfactorily in serial order, just as it is difficult in other groups. Thus, in 
placing the Luidiidge between the Astropectinidse and Pseudarchasteridse, it is not 
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