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Solaster stimpsoni is a large species, growing up to 50 cm in diameter. It can have 8 to 12 arms, but usually has 10. [2] The aboral surface has a distinctive reddish orange colour and is covered with thick paxillae.
Members of this family live on hard surfaces at depths between 100 and 4,500 m (300 and 14,800 ft). They raise their arms vertically above their discs to filter feed on suspended organic particles drifting past. They are able to raise their arms in this way because of the small size of its plates on the aboral surfaces of their arms which gives ...
As different species of starfish breed at different times of year, Orchitophrya stellarum may move from one species to another in accordance with their reproductive cycles. In the Pacific Ocean, it may alternate between parasitising Evasterias troschelii and Pisaster ochraceus during the spring and summer and Leptasterias spp. in the winter.
If attacked by a predator such as the morning sun star (Solaster dawsoni) or the sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), the slime star emits great quantities of repellent mucus and can often evade the predator. [3] The mucus is toxic and has been shown to kill other invertebrates immersed in it. [3]
The common sunstar (Crossaster papposus) is a species of sea star (aka starfish) belonging to the family Solasteridae. [1] It is found in the northern parts of both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
Aboral surface of an Asterias forbesi sea star showing ring of pedicellariae surrounding spine. Asterias, like most starfish genera in the order Forcipulatida, are recognisable externally by their pedicellariae, many thousands of tiny jaw-like structures on the skin which can snap shut to nip at prey or predators.
Like other starfish in the family Asteriidae, Marthasterias glacialis is a predator and feeds mostly on bivalve molluscs and other invertebrates. [6] It has been found that secondary metabolites known as saponins , found within the starfish's tissues, have a dramatic effect on the whelk Buccinum undatum .
Larger starfish take larger prey. [3] It is the dominant predator in the tidal and shallow subtidal zones of the Falkland Islands. A study of the community in the Beagle Channel associated with the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera showed A. antarctica as being at the top trophic level , feeding on the herbivores grazing on the seaweed, on the ...