Acanthaster brevispinus, the short-spined crown-of-thorns starfish, is one of the two members of the starfish genus Acanthaster, along with the much better-known A. planci, the common crown-of-thorns starfish.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Acanthaster brevispinus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens16
BINs1
Marker genes11
eDNA detections6
Countries1
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P621 bp consensus4 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 100% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Diversity (π)0.08%
Haplotypes2
BIN1
Most divergent pair0.16%
Where individuals differ — all 1 variable positions, in barcode order
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5PCOIICOXIIICYTBND1ND2ND3ND4ND4LND5-0ND6
animal barcodemitochondrial
Organelle genome
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is
◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species
Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.
protein-codingrRNAtRNA
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type53 records
Wild obs. + sensor18
Museum / vouchered35
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO112 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit6
200–1000 m twilight0
1–4 km midnight0
>4 km abyssal0
median 26.8 m · max 63 m · 6 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy75% within 1 km
≤100 m 8≤1 km 4≤10 km 1>10 km 3
16 georeferenced · 2 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor18
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy86% within 1 km
≤1 km 12≤10 km 2
14 georeferenced · 21 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence35
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions4 of 6 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Natick, US
9
Washington, US
3
Sydney, AU
3
CASlocation not on record
2
Western Australian Museumlocation not on record
1
South Kensington, GB
1
6 institutions · 19 of 35 vouchered records shown
09Environmental DNA6 detections
Where the DNA of Acanthaster brevispinus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found6
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 6 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median21.9 °C 21.9–21.9
Seasonal swing summer↔winter18.4 °C
Max temp (day)28.5 °C
Min temp (night)15.0 °C
Precipitation15.6 mm/mo
Air humidity43.4 %
Moisture balance-143 mm/mo
Vapour deficit1,624 Pa
Wind speed4.00 m/s
Cloud cover18.1 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 2 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation5 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility37 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System16 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI6 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics16 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗