Sep 8, 2019
Slime Star, Pteraster tesselatus
Salt Creek, WA
August 2019
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Egypt
seen from Morocco
seen from United States
seen from Mexico
seen from United States
seen from Ukraine
seen from Mexico
seen from United States
seen from Mexico
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from United States
seen from Italy
seen from Mexico
Slime Star, Pteraster tesselatus
Salt Creek, WA
August 2019
Doodle of blu noodle
Here is a slime star (Pteraster tesselatus) I saw on a dive yesterday. Aptly named because this little fella can produce large amounts of mucus when disturbed! This slime will kill animals who are immersed in it for 24 hours. So think twice before putting one of these beauties in an aquarium :)
This adorable little deep-sea starfish (Pteraster sp.) may look innocent, but a potential predator will get a taste of some nasty slime if it tries to take a bite!
Echinoderm expert Chris Mah, who writes the Echinoblog, says this "slime star" can spew mucus when disturbed. And he means "GOBS and GOBS of it"! MBARI ROVs have seen this sea star from a few hundred meters to over 3500 meters on the deep seafloor.
via: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
I'd die for shitty Magience and Slime Star valentines cards
Did fanart of @faewild‘s Slime Star!