Resumen en inglés

In the Colombian Caribbean, brittle stars represents an important component within the benthic communities; however, they are being affected by different natural and anthropogenic pressures. The purpose of this research was to assess the effect of climate change on the potential geographical distribution of ophiuroids: Hemipholis cordifera, Ophiactis savignyi, Ophiopsila hartmeyeri, Ophiothrix angulata and Ophiothrix orstedii in the southern Gulf of Morrosquillo, based on the Maximum Entropy (Maxent) method. The models that used oceanographic variables showed excellent predictive performance (AUC>0.90). The suitability curves showed that temperature, oxygen percentage and conductivity affect the distribution of the selected species. In the case of the models built from the climatic variables, these had a lower predictive power and precipitation was the parameter that contributes the greatest contribution to the distribution of the species. The projections to present show the bay of Cispatá and its adjacent areas as suitable areas for the presence of this taxonomic group. The models that used the climatic variables were projected under climate change stages, and its results predict an increase in the area of suitability for O. hartmeyeri in the entire geographic area in stages B1 and A2 by 2050; although, it will be locally extinct like the other species of ofiuros by 2080.