HEN Oceanologicäl and HyArobiolodicäl Studie 
sciende 
115 A 9x 
20 Oceanograph" a 
Volume 51, No. 2, June 2027 
pages (143-14£ 
VW -irobiology 
ISSN 1730-413X 
ASSN 1897-3197 
First record of the common sun star Crossaster papposus (L., 1767) in 
the Baltic Sea in over 100 years 
IY 
Katharina Romoth'*, Mayya Gogina', 
Kolja Beisiegel*, Alexander Darr®, 
Michael Lothar Zettler'! 
BAT zi 
Category: Short communicatıoh 
Se 
A EM 5027 
AN 
5 
Abstract 
The rare in the German North and Baltic Sea waters and 
strictly protected sea star Crossaster papposus was found 
in 2019 and 2021 during monitoring activities in a marine 
protected area. This unique observation was achieved by 
using towed camera platform imagery along a transect 
in the Fehmarn Belt, which allows monitoring of a much 
larger area of the seafloor compared to traditional invasive 
grab and dredge sampling. The last time C. papposus was 
documented in this area was in 1871, indicating the rarity of 
this species in the Baltic Sea. Possible explanations for such 
rare records of the occurrence of this presumably native 
species in the study region are briefly discussed, including 
uncommon survival due to salinity conditions caused by 
prior inflows of saline water from the North Sea. 
"Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research, 
Seestrasse 15, D-18119 Rostock, Germany 
’BLANO Marine Protection Office, 
Rothenburgsorter Marktplatz 1, 20539 
Hamburg, Germany 
‘Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency 
BSH), Bernhard-Nocht-Straße 78, 20359 
Hamburg, Germany 
Key words: Crossaster papposus, Fehmarn Belt, 
ogrotected species, monitoring data, underwater 
imaging approach 
* Corresponding author: katharina.romoth@io-warnemuende.de 
online at www.oandhs.ug.edu.pl 
27022 Katharina Romoth et al. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- 
\\asCammerrial-NaoDaerivs '!icense(httni//creativerammare arr /!lirancac/hv-nr-nd/4a 6