Seastar Named for Youngest Cousins of Scripps Family
Invertebrate inhabits seafloor ecosystem that develops around sunken pieces of wood
Fifth-generation Scripps descendant Ray Granado (center) with framed image of seastar, 2013.
A seastar that specializes in living on pieces of wood that have fallen into the ocean is among the top 10 new marine species described by researchers in 2024.
And in the case of this particular invertebrate, there will forever be a personal tie to UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The name researchers chose for it is Scripps Cousins Wood-Dwelling Seastar or, more formally, Caymanostella scrippscognaticausa.
The seastar is the namesake of a group of children that represents the latest generation of the Scripps family, which has been the institution’s mainstay supporter for more than 100 years.
“We chose the species name ‘scrippscognaticausa’ as this is a Latinized form of ‘Scripps Cousins for Causes’ and we are very grateful for the support of the younger Scripps family,” said Greg Rouse, curator of the Benthic Invertebrate Collection at Scripps and a member of the identification team.
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) selected the seastar and nine other new species from some 2,000 marine species named in 2024 in its annual top 10 list announced today on World Taxonomist Appreciation Day.
The youngest members of the Scripps family (Cousins for Causes) actually selected the seastar as a cause to support in 2022, when they were allowed to pick a Scripps project to devote $5,000 toward research. The seastar’s name was made official by the World Register in 2024 after a team led by Scripps Oceanography graduate student Annie Shen went through the process of classifying the species and determining its status as its own species.
The seastar is part of a specialized ecosystem that has developed when branches, logs, or even entire trees sink to the seafloor. Unlike the seastars found in tidepools, the bodies of Wood-Dwelling Seastars are flattened, their mouths are enlarged to maximize close contact with their woody home, and they have specialized spines that help them hold on.
“Scientists are still unsure whether these seastars feed directly on the wood itself or if they prey on other animals or microbes that colonize decaying wood,” said WoRMS in a statement released today.
Rouse said the naming began as a “competition” for Scripps children gathered at a family reunion on campus to choose science projects to support. Rouse credited the Scripps children for not going for more obvious choices among the projects on offer, and instead took to heart the message about how important wood-loving seastars and their deep-sea relatives are to ocean biodiversity.
“We name on average 10 or more new species a year from specimens we collect on expeditions all over the world that are then permanently lodged in the Scripps Benthic Invertebrate Collection,” Rouse said. “It is an honor to have our work on biodiversity discovery recognised in this way.”
Species described from the Benthic Invertebrate Collection have cracked the top 10 several times before. Two of them, Solwarawarriors vestimentiferan, Alaysia solwarawarriors and Prince Albert’s Sea Daisy, Xyloplax princealberti made the top 10 list in 2023.
This naming was not associated with the long-running Name-a-Species donor opportunity at Scripps, but Rouse noted that Name-a-Species remains a way for members of the public to support science while helping reveal the diversity of life in the oceans which yields new information almost on a daily basis.
About Scripps Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego is one of the world’s most important centers for global earth science research and education. In its second century of discovery, Scripps scientists work to understand and protect the planet, and investigate our oceans, Earth, and atmosphere to find solutions to our greatest environmental challenges. Scripps offers unparalleled education and training for the next generation of scientific and environmental leaders through its undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs. The institution also operates a fleet of four oceanographic research vessels, and is home to Birch Aquarium at Scripps, the public exploration center that welcomes 500,000 visitors each year.
About UC San Diego
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