SHALLOW-WATER ECHINOIDS OF CAYOS-COCHINOS, HONDURAS

The following thirteen species were encountered in a survey of shallow water echinoids at Cayos Cochinos Biological Reserve, Honduras: Eucid aris tribuloides, Diadema antillarum, Arbacia punctulata, Lytechinus v ariegatus, Tripneustes ventricosus, Echinometra lucunter, E. viridis, Clypeaster rosaceus, Paraster doederleini, P. floridiensis, Brissopsis elongata, Brissus unicolor, and Meoma ventricosa. Characters for fiel d identification of these species are given. Most of these species are common in many other areas of the Caribbean, but the presence of A. p unctulata is noteworthy, because this species is often absent or very rare elsewhere in the tropical west Atlantic. Lytechinus williamsi, an other echinoid with disjunct geographic distribution, appears to be ab sent at Cayos Cochinos. L. variegatus, normally abundant in Thalassia beds everywhere in the Caribbean, was very rare at Cayos Cochinos in 1 995. Diadema antillarum was also rare; apparently at Cayos Cochinos, a s in all other areas where its abundance has been monitored, it has no t recovered from mass mortality that it suffered throughout the wester n Atlantic in 1983-1984.