A University of Tokyo research team announced Friday they had discovered a new species of brittle star in Sagami Bay off the coast of the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture.
The team named the species "konjiki komochi kumohitode," which literally means a "golden brittle star that holds its young."
The bright yellow brittle star is about 1 centimeter long and the larvae develop inside the adult's body, according to the team.
The team surveyed the seafloor at a depth of 90-140 meters in Sagami Bay from 2016 to 2019 using a seine net. Only two of the species were collected.
The researchers examined the brittle star's spines and genetics and found that they were a new species, belonging to a group of brittle stars that live in the deep sea.
They also observed the brittle stars release about 10 larvae.
Of the about 2,100 species of brittle stars that exist, about 340 are found in Japan. Among those, nearly half of them live in Sagami Bay, which is home to a wide variety of organisms because it is topographically complex, with deep-sea areas close to shore.
"We would like to continue our research to determine how many species of brittle stars exist in Japan," said Masanori Okanishi, project assistant professor at University of Tokyo, who specializes in animal systematics.
"It's surprising that a new species was discovered in Sagami Bay, where brittle stars have been studied for more than 100 years," said Hosei University Prof. Satoshi Shimano, who specializes in animal taxonomy. "As research continues, we may be able to discover more new species living on the seafloor around Japan."
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