COMPREHENSIVE DESCRIPTION

The small seastar Gomophia watsoni was first observed on the Great Barrier Reef near Heron Island, Australia. The small yet resilient sea star is fairly abundant on Queensland reefs and is observed as a cryptic species that is often found on the undersides of rocks and coral. It is distributed throughout northern Australia to Christmas Island and the western Indian ocean, although it’s type locality is in Queensland on the Great Barrier Reef (Rowe & Richmond 2004). Like many marine seastars, G. watsoni is likely to have considerable effects upon the structure of intertidal and subtidal communities by predation activities (Kurihara 1998). It is preyed upon by crustaceans, gastropods, fish as well as other echinoderms (Bryan et al. 1997). G. watsoni is likely to be a scavenger, feeding upon small sessile or sedentary organisms (Ruppert et al. 2004). As an asteroid species, G. watsoni is characterised by echinoderm synapomorphies such as a water vascular system, tube feet as well as pentamerous symmetry.