New taxa of Mesophotic Asteroidea from Ashmore Reef, Western Australia

We report on 27 asteroid specimens collected by the RV Falkor, using the ROV SuBastian, from mesophotic depths on Ashmore Reef in Western Australia, 2021. Of the total, 10 new species were collected, 9 of which are described here. Sixteen species were new occurrences for Western Australia. One additional shallow water species was observed at mesophotic depths but not collected. Each collected specimen was identified as a different species. In the Valvatida, this included Goniasteridae (n=9), Mithrodiidae (n=1), Ophidiasteridae (n=4), Asterinidae (n=3), Asterodiscididae (n=2), Oreasteridae (n=2), Podosphaerasteridae (n=1), and the Echinasteridae (n=3). Also present were two non-valvatidan groups, a brisingid from the Forcipulatacea and a new species of pterasterid in the genus Euretaster from the Velatida. Consistent with other accounts of mesophotic asteroid distribution, some of the species observed here, such as the goniasterid Churaumiastra hoshi Mah et al. 2024 have been found to be widely distributed across the Indo-Pacific.