Sea Stars and Sea Spiders
Description
Radius 7" (18 cm). Many-armed. Scarlet above, with concentric bands of white, pink, yellowish or dark red; white underneath. Central disk large; with netlike pattern of raised ridges; 8-14 arms, length 1/2 radius. Entire upper surface sparsely covered with brushlike spines; marginal spines larger. Mouth area bare. 2 rows of sucker-tipped tube feet in grooves.
Habitat
On rock bottoms; from low-tide line to water 1080’ (329 m) deep.
Range
Arctic to Gulf of Maine; Alaska to Puget Sound.
Discussion
Among the most beautiful of echinoderms, these sea stars seem to be sunbursts of color. They are predatory on smaller sea stars, swallowing them whole.
