Sea star specimens collected during the 1978 Walter Herwig FFS expedition on the Patagonian continental shelf and Falklands (Malvinas) Islands. The asteroids were identified to order, family, genus, and sometimes species using detailed morphological character analysis and existing taxonomic keys. The dataset was compiled by SCIOPS and last updated in 1978.
Use Cases
- Taxonomic classification of sea stars based on detailed morphological characters like pedicellaria shape and skeletal structure.
- Studying the biodiversity and distribution of asteroids in the Patagonian and Antarctic regions.
- Validating and refining species identification keys for Antarctic marine fauna using historical expedition data.
Strengths
- Identification is based on a wide variety of detailed morphological characters, as described.
- Taxonomic resolution was cross-referenced with multiple historical Antarctic expedition works and the Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS).
Limitations
- Last updated 1978-12-31 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- SCIOPS via nasa_earthdata
- Collection Method
- Specimens collected during the Walter Herwig FFS expedition and identified using morphological analysis and taxonomic keys.
- Time Range
- 1978
- Freshness
- 1978-12-31 23:59:59.999000
- Geography
- Continental shelf of Patagonia and Falklands (Malvinas) Islands