Regenerative potential of the sea star Linckia guildinguii

Abstract

Asteroidea is a class of Phylum Echinodermata with great capacity for body regeneration. The genera Linckia are among the species with higher capacity to regenerate and, in contrast to most sea stars, can reproduce asexually from arm fragments without portions of the central disc. In this article, we characterized the regeneration of Linckia guildinguii at a morphological and histological level and aimed to understand its regenerative potential. We performed experiments with arm fragments of different size and shape. A star will regenerate anew in 32 days by morphallactic regeneration. We note that sea stars regenerated de novo are again able to regenerate a new sea star. The ease with which this deuterostomatous organism can be maintained in a confined state made L. guildinguii a suitable animal to study the regenerative phenomenon and the processes associated with the establishment of body axes.