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Two juvenile specimens of a new species of Oreaster were collected at Parque Nacional Arrecife Alacranes and Triángulos Oeste in the southern Gulf of Mexico. DNA of mitochondrial loci identifies them as members of the same clade as cloning larvae of Oreaster found abundantly in waters of the Florida Current-Gulf Stream system, and distinct from Oreaster clavatus and Oreaster reticulatus , the two known Oreasteridae species in the North Atlantic. Larvae from the new species of Oreaster persist as clones but also metamorphose and settle to the benthos with typical asteroid morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the coelemic development of the starfish Pteraster tesselatus. Arisal from seven separate enterocoels; Water-vascular coelemic system; Mode of coelem formation; Rotation in the site of origin of the anterior enterocoels relative to the archenteron.