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Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (/ ˌ æ s t ə ˈ r ɔɪ d i ə /). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish are also known as asteroids due to being in the class
The common starfish, common sea star or sugar starfish (Asterias rubens) is the most common and familiar starfish in the north-east Atlantic. Belonging to the family Asteriidae , it has five arms and usually grows to between 10–30 cm across, although larger specimens (up to 52 cm across) are known.
These starfish have between 6 and 16 long, attenuated arms which they use for suspension feeding. [3] Other characteristics include a single series of marginals, a fused ring of disc plates, the lack of actinal plates, a spool-like ambulacral column, reduced abactinal plates, and crossed pedicellariae . [ 4 ]
A starfish has five identical arms with a layer of “tube feet” beneath them that can help the marine creature move along the seafloor, causing naturalists to puzzle over whether sea stars have ...
The Brisingidae are a family of starfish found only in the deep sea. [2] They inhabit both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at abyssal depths, and also occur in the Southern Ocean and around Antarctica at slightly shallower depths.
Astropecten polyacanthus, the sand sifting starfish or comb sea star, is a sea star of the family Astropectinidae. It is the most widespread species in the genus Astropecten, found throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The armspread is up to 20 cm (8 in). [2] The specific epithet "polyacanthus" comes from the Latin meaning "many thorned". [3]
Patiria miniata, the bat star, sea bat, webbed star, or broad-disk star, is a species of sea star (also called a starfish) in the family Asterinidae. It typically has five arms, with the center disk of the animal being much wider than the stubby arms are in length. [2] Although the bat star usually has five arms, it sometimes has as many as ...
Luidia clathrata is a large, flattish starfish, sometimes growing to a diameter of 30 cm (12 in). It has a relatively small disc and five slender arms, which are two or three times the diameter of the disc.