Panamic Basket Star, Astrodictyum panamense

Panamic Basket Star, Astrodictyum panamense. Size: 12 cm (4.7 inches). Basket star provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, September 2009.

Panamic Basket Star, Astrodictyum panamense. A passenger to a snagged peace of Gorgonian boated in coastal waters off Loreto, Baja California Sur, September 2024.  Note: the upper branches of this Gorgonian contain millions of minute juvenile Basket Stars. Identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

Phylogeny:  The Panamic Basket Star, Astrodictyum panamense (Verrill,1867), is a member of the Gorgonocephalidae Family of Basket Stars. The genus Astrodictyum is one of thirty-two genera in this family, and this is the only species in this genus. They are also known as the Ringed Basket Star or the Gulf Miniature Basket Star, the Ringed Basket Star and the Star Net Basket Sea Star, and are known in Mexico as  estrella canasta panámica.

Morphology: Panamic Basket Stars have a star-shaped central disk with lobes that each form the base for two arms. The arms quickly branch and continuing branching their entire length. The arms are encircled with narrow, slightly raised, bands. The arms may be yellow with brown bands, orange with yellowish bands, or reddish with lighter bands.  During the day, these animals appear to be a knotted mass, tangled around a gorgonian. At night they extend their arms to feed and appear more net-like. The disk is marked with a concentric wave-like pattern. When extended, the arms reach 30 cm (12 inches) in length.

Habitat and Distribution:  The Panamic Basket Star is found attached to gorgonians, in rocky and reef habitats. They live from depths of 8 m (25 feet) to 185 m (600 feet), though some sources extend the maximum depth to over 1,400 m (4,600 feet). In Mexican waters they are found along the Pacific Coast from Punta Eugenia Baja California Sur south to Guatemala. They also inhabit the Central and Southern portions of the Gulf of California,  as far north as Bahía de los Ángeles, Baja California.

Diet:  Panamic Basket Stars are suspension feeders that use their multi-branched arms to filter plankton from the surrounding water.

Predators:  The Panamic Basket Star is poorly studied and understood species. There is no information on the predation of this species, however other species in this family are eaten by fin-fishes.

Reproduction: Panamic Basket Stars are gonochoric (male or female for life). Reproduction is sexual, with external fertilization. The fertilized eggs hatch into planktonic larva before metamorphosing into their benthic form.

Ecosystem Interactions:  There are no noted parasitic or commensal relationships for Panamic Basket Stars.

Human Interactions:  Panamic Basket Stars have no direct impact on human activities. From a conservation perspective they have not been formally evaluated however they are fairly common with a relatively wide distribution and should be consider to be of Least Concern.

Synonyms: Astrocaneum panamense, Astrophyton panamense, and Gorgoncephalus panamensis.