UC San Diego

Caymanostellidae is a group of rarely collected and morphologically unique sea stars that have been exclusively discovered on wood falls in the deep sea. There are currently 3 genera and 7 species within the family, with a wide distribution across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans and a depth range between ~414 and 6780 m. Two new species, Caymanostella scrippscognaticausa n. sp. and Caymanostella n. sp., are here identified and described from specimens collected from wood falls in multiple localities across the Pacific Margin of Costa Rica. These records represent the first evidence of caymanostellids occurring on wood falls found at methane seeps and expand the known geographical distribution of caymanostellids. This study also includes the first descriptions of early-stage juvenile caymanostellid sea stars with several collected from experimentally deployed wood, which shows that traits previously considered useful for diagnosis might represent intra-specific ontogenetic variability, with important consequences for caymanostellid taxonomy.