ABSTRACT
Novodinia antillensis from bathyal depths near the Bahamas has large obvious eyespots on each of the 10–14 arm tips. The poster in Dijon described the findings of a light and electron microscope study of the anatomy of these eyes. Histology revealed that the eyespot is made up of about 100 complex ocelli similar in structure to those described by Smith (1937) for the shallow water species Marthasterias glacialis. As no ultrastructural details are available for M. glacialis or other shallow water asteriid we undertook an ultrastructural study of that species as a comparison with Novodinia antillensis. The nature and origin of the parts of each eye were elucidated. A major finding was that sensory receptors are virtually absent from the ocelli of N. antillensis. Thus on morphological evidence at least the eye of N. antillensis appears reduced and may be non functional.
