Ara in 1921–1928; the Presidential Cruise in 1938; the Velero III and IV between
1932–1954; and the New York Zoological Society in the late 1930s. More
recently, an expedition was undertaken using the research submersible JohnsonSea-Link II in 1998 (Pawson and Ahearn 2001). These expeditions produced the
majority of articles dealing with taxonomy, distribution and diversity of echinoderms from subtropical and tropical waters of the Western Americas. Publications
relevant to Ecuador, include Agassiz (1892, 1898, 1904)), Ludwig (1894, 1905),
Lütken and Mortensen (1899), Clark (1902, 1917, 1920a, 1920b, 1939, 1940,
1948), Fisher (1911), Boone (1933), Ziesenhenne (1935), Deichmann (1938, 1941,
1958), Caso (1948, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1976, 1978, 1979), Barham et al.
(1973), Brusca (1980), and Maluf (1988a, b).
This chapter includes information about the echinoderms of the continental
coast and the Galápagos Islands, based on all known records of the literature and
on published data from the catalogues of the Allan Hancock Foundation Collections, Los Angeles County Museum and from holdings at the Scripps Institute of
Oceanography and at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian
Institute. Furthermore, species observed in the field, but not necessarily reported in
the literature or present in collections (Chiriboga et al. 2011) are also reported
here. All species are listed in the Appendix.
6.2.1 Diversity
Ecuador possesses 282 species of echinoderms (Table 6.1). Eighty-three and 242
species have been on the continental shelf of Ecuador, and the Galápagos Islands,
respectively (Table 6.1).
Table 6.1 Summary of the total number of echinoderms species
Continental
shelf
Galápagos
Islands
C Depth distribution (m)
0–
20
20–
100
100–
1000
[1000 ND Total
Habitat
Shallow Open
Crinoidea
ND
ND
3
0 ND ND
ND
2
1
3
Asteroidea
19
5
67
15 11
5
12
16
27 71
Ophiuroidea 21
8
82
11
3
3
18
28
42 94
Echinoidea
24
2
43
16
7
4
16
10
14 51
Holothuroidea 19
13
47
11 11
2
2
24
24 63
Total
83
28 242
53 32 14
48
80
108 282
Information is referred for habitats and depth distribution along the continental shelf and the
Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. C common number of species for both the continental and the
Galápagos Islands. ND no data
190
J. Sonnenholzner et al.
1932–1954; and the New York Zoological Society in the late 1930s. More
recently, an expedition was undertaken using the research submersible JohnsonSea-Link II in 1998 (Pawson and Ahearn 2001). These expeditions produced the
majority of articles dealing with taxonomy, distribution and diversity of echinoderms from subtropical and tropical waters of the Western Americas. Publications
relevant to Ecuador, include Agassiz (1892, 1898, 1904)), Ludwig (1894, 1905),
Lütken and Mortensen (1899), Clark (1902, 1917, 1920a, 1920b, 1939, 1940,
1948), Fisher (1911), Boone (1933), Ziesenhenne (1935), Deichmann (1938, 1941,
1958), Caso (1948, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1976, 1978, 1979), Barham et al.
(1973), Brusca (1980), and Maluf (1988a, b).
This chapter includes information about the echinoderms of the continental
coast and the Galápagos Islands, based on all known records of the literature and
on published data from the catalogues of the Allan Hancock Foundation Collections, Los Angeles County Museum and from holdings at the Scripps Institute of
Oceanography and at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian
Institute. Furthermore, species observed in the field, but not necessarily reported in
the literature or present in collections (Chiriboga et al. 2011) are also reported
here. All species are listed in the Appendix.
6.2.1 Diversity
Ecuador possesses 282 species of echinoderms (Table 6.1). Eighty-three and 242
species have been on the continental shelf of Ecuador, and the Galápagos Islands,
respectively (Table 6.1).
Table 6.1 Summary of the total number of echinoderms species
Continental
shelf
Galápagos
Islands
C Depth distribution (m)
0–
20
20–
100
100–
1000
[1000 ND Total
Habitat
Shallow Open
Crinoidea
ND
ND
3
0 ND ND
ND
2
1
3
Asteroidea
19
5
67
15 11
5
12
16
27 71
Ophiuroidea 21
8
82
11
3
3
18
28
42 94
Echinoidea
24
2
43
16
7
4
16
10
14 51
Holothuroidea 19
13
47
11 11
2
2
24
24 63
Total
83
28 242
53 32 14
48
80
108 282
Information is referred for habitats and depth distribution along the continental shelf and the
Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. C common number of species for both the continental and the
Galápagos Islands. ND no data
190
J. Sonnenholzner et al.