Biodiversity & Conservation

Serpent’s table brittlestar - Ophiura albida

Ophiura albida

Image David Connor - Two individuals on sand. Image width ca XX cm.
Image copyright information

Distribution map

Ophiura albida recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

Sightings Have you seen Ophiura albida?
If so please submit your record.

Ophiura albida is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Echinodermata Starfish, brittlestars, sea urchins & sea cucumbers
Class Stelleroidea Starfish, sea stars, cushion stars and brittlestars
Authority Forbes, 1839
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland All British and Irish coasts.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found sublittorally on a variety of soft substrata but mainly fine muddy sands.
Text page icon Description A red-brown brittlestar with a disc up to 15 mm in diameter, smaller than Ophiura ophiura. The arms are about four times the diameter of the disc which is covered, on the upper surface, with coarse scales. The arm spines lie almost flat against the arms.
Identifying features
  • Disk up to 15 mm diameter.
  • Primary plates not distinct.
  • Radial shields small.
  • Innermost dorsal arm plates heart-shaped.
  • Outer arm comb of 10-12 short, stout spines; inner comb indistinct.
  • Dorsal and ventral arm plates with convex outer edge.
  • Three arm spines equidistant from each other.
  • Three to five simple mouth papillae.
Additional information icon Additional information No text entered

This review can be cited as follows:

Emily Wilson 1999. Ophiura albida. Serpent’s table brittlestar. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3980>