Ophiopteris papillosa (Lyman 1875)

Biology/Natural History: This species is sometimes associated with the purple urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. In aquaria, raise arms and extend tube feet. Capture suspended material on spines and tube feet, pass it down to the mouth via the tube feet. Also may feed by grasping small prey or meat in a loop of the arm and bringing it to the jaws by bending the arm ventrally.

Under rocks and in algal holdfasts

Geographical Range: Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island to Isla Cedros, Baja California

Depth Range: Low intertidal to 140 m depth. This species is said to be only subtidal in the Pacific Northwest, but can be found fairly commonly in the low intertidal in southern California.

This brittle star has entire upper arm plates, 5-7 large, blunt, flattened arm spines per vertical row. The upper arm spines are very short and the lower spines are much longer. They have 15-20 tooth papillae and 2-3 teeth per jaw and 3-5 oral papillae per half-jaw, knobs and papillae covering the disc and radial shields, 2 genital slits per interradius, and 1 flat tentacle scale per podial pore. Disk diameter to 45 mm, arm length 3-4.5 times disk diameter. Usually deep chocolate-brown in intertidal, with bands on the arms; lighter subtidally and with regenerating animals.