Sunday, May 30, 2010

Raffles Museum Treasures: Basket star

P1440350
Basket star (Euryale aspera)
Collected off St. John's Island, December 1896
Native to Singapore: Data Deficient

Wild Fact Sheets
NParks FaunaWeb
World Ophiuroidea Database

After this particular individual was collected in 1896, basket stars were not spotted in Singapore waters for slightly more than 110 years. The first recent sighting came in June 2007, when one was spotted at Big Sister Island. Another was seen on a trip to Pulau Hantu in November 2009. It is not known if these sightings are of this species of basket star, or if other species of basket star also inhabit our waters.


(Photo by Kok Sheng)