Echinoderm Research in Uruguay

Abstract

A compilation of extinct and extant echinoderms of Uruguay is presented here. Research on echinoderms began near the second half of the twentieth century. The present poorly known- fauna include five species of asteroids, 24 species of ophiuroids, five species of echinoids and three species of holothuroids. No crinoids have been reported for Uruguay. Echinoderms arrive through the Malvinas (Falkland) and Brazil currents and subsidiary coastal waters, being a mixed fauna with cool and warm water elements. Some of these species have a biogeographic barrier at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, because of the changes of salinity, temperature and even turbidity. Echinoderm fossils are known in Uruguay from the Devonian (represented by one crinoid species and one ophiuroid species). The Neogene and Quaternary sand dollars are the most abundant and best known, including the key family Monophorasteridae, sister group of the Mellitidae. There are no echinoderm fisheries or aquaculture in Uruguay. The extent of the influence of fishing of other taxa on the populations of echinoderms is not known.