Ophiothrix (Acanthophiothrix) purpurea von Martens 1867

Colour in life: disc patterned in red, arms dark red median outlined in white, arm spines red, ventrally lighter red with a dark median line along the arms. (Sloan et al., 1979). Arm length to 12 cm, disc diameter to 1.2 cm. Delicate. Arms with very fine banding and red and white with dark red line along dorsal surface and very long, needle-like spines. Disc scales covered with long and thorny spines, central disc nake in the smallest specimen. Radial shields naked, large, widest at the middle or near the proximal end. Aboral arm plates longer than broad, distal side convex, a dark median longitudinal line bordered by red lines separated by pale lines on either side. Oral arm plates longer than broad, distal edge convex in basal segments, becoming concave later, dark media longitudinal spots forming an almost continuous line with pale lateral areas. Oral shields wider than long, a small pointed tip in the proximal side. Adoral shields longer than broad. Five long needle-like arm spines, thorny and pointed, about 6-7 times the arm bredth in legth, uppermost the longest. Habitat: shallow reef areas. General distribution: W Indian Ocean, Red Sea to W Pacific (Richmond, 1998); East coast of Africa to South Pacific Islands (Sastry, 1991); tropical, Indo-west-central Pacific Ocean, depth range 5-508 m. (Rowe & Gates, 1995). Also distributed in SE Arabia, Persian Gulf, Maldive area, Ceylon, East Indies, Philippine, China, south Japan and South Pacific Is. (Clark & Rowe, 1971); Australia (Rowe & Gates, 1995), Lakshadweep (India) in Sastry (1991), Andaman Is. (Sastry, 1997). Ecology: benthic, inshore, continental shelf (Rowe & Gates, 1995).