#asteriidae

[snototter]

A common starfish (Asterias rubens) washed ashore near the White Sea in Russia

by Alexander Semenov

[drhoz]

#2525 - Astrostole scabra - Seven-armed Sea Star

This one only has 5 arms. Sometimes they have eight. One of New Zealand's larger seastars, but also found in Eastern and Southern Australia.

A wandering predator of molluscs including mussels and sea snails, found from intertidal areas down to 150m. They may be orange through dark red to brown, or light blue to grey. Adults may be 35cm across, but intertidal individuals are generally smaller with thicker armour.

Breaker Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

[animalids]

Giant-spined starfish (Pisaster giganteus)

Photo by David R. Andrew

[snototter]

An ochre sea star (Pisaster ochraceus) in Seal Rock, Oregon, USA

by Robyn Waayers

[thoughtlessarse]

A blue spiny starfish takes a bow. Scientists have discovered that the ‘arms’ of a starfish are actually extensions of their head. A biologist commented that one could think of the body of a starfish as ‘a disembodied head walking about the sea floor on its lips – the lips having sprouted a fringe of tube feet, co-opted from their original function of sorting food particles, to do the walking’ - Photograph: bennymarty/Getty Images

click image link for more Week in Wildlife photos

[rbade-art]

[drhoz]

#991 - Coscinasterias muricata - Eleven-armed Seastar

A large - 25cm across - predatory seastar that I found hurrying across the bottom of a tidepool just after sunset. It usually has 11 arms, but can have as few as 7 or as many as 14. This is one of the species that can reproduce asexually, by tearing themselves in half.

Cape Peron, Perth

EDIT: Renumbered because of a duplicate in the list. I’m an idiot.

[namakos]

Ochre star / オーカースター

Pisaster ochraceus

オーカースター アラスカからカリフォルニア半島にかけて生息。

Ochre star It is found from Alaska to Baja California.

Animalia Echinodermata Asteroidea Forcipulatida Asteriidae 動物界 棘皮動物門 ヒトデ綱 マヒトデ目 マヒトデ科 Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, California, United States. 太平洋水族館＠カリフォルニア州ロングビーチ