Leptosynapta inhaerens (Müller, 1776)

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 135-136

Leptosynapta inhaerens (Müller, 1776)

Reports for the Azores:

Leptosynapta inhaerens (M̹ller, 1776)— $ Wirtz 2009: 48, fig. 1e.

Type locality: Norway .

See: Tortonese (1965: 104–105, fig. 45); Picton (1993: 82–83).

Occurrence: Mediterranean Sea and Northeast Atlantic; from Scandinavian arctic waters south along European coasts ( Tortonese 1965) to the Azores ( Wirtz 2009) and Canaries ( Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 1992a).

Depth: 0–173 m, mostly between the first few meters and 50 m deep ( Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 1992a); also found in tide-pools ( AZO; Wirtz 2009).

Habitat: soft sediments buried in muddy sand or gravel, and amongst Zostera and Caulerpa and in sandy tide pools ( Picton 1993, Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 1992a).

Larval stage: Planktotrophic, hermaphroditic ( Mortensen 1927 a, McEdward & Miner 2001).

Remarks: recently, Wirtz (2009) discovered small specimens belonging to Leptosynapta inhaerens in tidepools in Faial Island, turning the archipelago to the westernmost limit for this species.