sp. nov. (Echinodermata, Echinasteridae): a new sea star species from the Sea of Japan.

A new sea star species, sp.n., was discovered in Rudnaya Bay in the Sea of Japan. This is a sympatric species of the well-known and common species Djakonov, 1958. Both species are similar in body size and proportions, shape of skeletal plates, and life coloration, which distinguishes them from the other species inhabiting the Sea of Japan. Nevertheless, these species can be distinguished by their abactinal spines: in both species, they are short and barrel-like, but the new species is the only species in Russian waters of the Pacific that possesses such spines with a massive, smooth, bullet-like tip. The spines in are crowned with a variable number of well-developed thorns. About half (<50%) of the abactinal pseudopaxillae in the new species are oval, not crescent-shaped as in .