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Family: Ichneumonidae
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Bocas Species Database Habitat: All reef zones, mangroves, and seagrass beds. Usually on sand under rocks, coral rubble, or corals. Distribution: Caribbean, South Carolina offshore reefs, Texas offshore reefs. Possibly ocurs on both sides of the Atlantic. Natural History Notes: O. reticulata is most active at night, and extends several arms from beneath coral rubble to feed. It uses the tube feet to excavate a burrow, maintain a respiratory current, and gather food particles, such as algal filaments and diatoms, from the sediment surface. Eggs are relatively large (0.25 mm), potentially implying lecithotrophic development. O. reticulata is preyed upon by squirrelfish, triggerfish, and the sand tilefish, and the percentage of regenerating arms (74.4%) and estimated rate of arm breakage is high. The species is associated with the scaleworm Malmgreniella variegata. Depth: 1-221 m Characteristics: This species reaches 15 mm in disk diameter with arms over 120 mm long. The disk has a brown or reddish-brown network pattern on a pale gray background. Small specimens have white disks with an open, purplish brown network and paired dark markings near the base of each arm. Arms are usually banded with blackish or purplish brown about every fourth joint, and there is a dark thin band between intervening pale arm joints. The primary plates are rarely discernable in adults, the disk is finely scaled and the radial shields are small. |