| Coscinasterias tenuispina | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata |
| Class: | Asteroidea |
| Order: | Forcipulatida |
| Family: | Asteriidae |
| Genus: | Coscinasterias |
| Species: | C. tenuispina |
| Binomial name | |
| Coscinasterias tenuispina | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
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Coscinasterias tenuispina is a starfish in the family Asteriidae. It is sometimes called the blue spiny starfish or the white starfish. It occurs in shallow waters in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. [1]
Coscinasterias tenuispina has from 6 to 12 arms (usually 7), often of varying lengths, and grows to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter. It is a creamy, slightly bluish colour, variously blotched with brown, and is rough textured with short spines. [2]
The range of Coscinasterias tenuispina includes the Mediterranean Sea, France, Spain and Portugal, the Azores and other Atlantic Islands, Bermuda, Cuba and the American coast between North Carolina and Santos, Brazil. It is found on the lower shore and down to a depth of about 50 m (160 ft). [1] A number of divergent populations of the starfish in the Atlantic and Mediterranean are believed to be deserving of being recognized as sub-species. The female population of the starfish in the Mediterranean is larger than that of the males. [3]
Coscinasterias tenuispina is a predator and an omnivore. The starfish is found on hard bottoms and under stones and seaweed where it mainly feeds on other echinoderms and on bivalve molluscs. [3] In most of its range, it undergoes sexual reproduction in the winter, while in the summer, it proliferates by asexual reproduction. [4] To begin the process of asexual reproduction, or "fission", the disc tears itself into two sections, with each part eventually growing extra arms and developing into a new individual. [4] In Brazil, all individuals seem to be male and fission occurs throughout the year. [5]
Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. 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 Asteroidea. About 1,900 species of starfish live on the seabed in all the world's oceans, from warm, tropical zones to frigid, polar regions. They are found from the intertidal zone down to abyssal depths, at 6,000 m (20,000 ft) below the surface.
Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long, slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to 60 cm (24 in) in length on the largest specimens.
Linckia laevigata is a species of sea star in the shallow waters of tropical Indo-Pacific.
Coscinasterias calamaria, or the eleven-armed sea star, is a starfish in the family Asteriidae. It was thought to be endemic to southern Australia and New Zealand but has since been documented as occurring in the Cape Peninsula as well. It is found around low tide levels and deeper, under rocks and wandering over seaweed in pools.
Linckia guildingi, also called the common comet star, Guilding's sea star or the green Linckia, is a species of sea star reported from the shallow waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
The Forcipulatida are an order of sea stars, containing three families and 49 genera.
Stichaster australis, the reef starfish, is a species of starfish found in the shallow waters of the rocky intertidal of New Zealand. Typically, the animal is endemic to the west coast shores of the North and South Islands, where wave action is increased. They do not usually inhabit ecosystems that have reduced wave action and calm conditions as they prefer a higher-energy environment. These marine invertebrates range in color from pink to purple, but can also be orange. They typically have eleven arms, but sometimes they may have either ten or twelve. As full-grown adults, they are 8 to 10 cm in diameter.
Asexual reproduction in starfish takes place by fission or through autotomy of arms. In fission, the central disc breaks into two pieces and each portion then regenerates the missing parts. In autotomy, an arm is shed with part of the central disc attached, which continues to live independently as a "comet", eventually growing a new set of arms. Fragmentation occurs on star fishes.
Solaster stimpsoni, common names Stimpson's sun star, sun star, orange sun star, striped sunstar, and sun sea star, is a species of starfish in the family Solasteridae.
Archaster typicus is a species of starfish in the family Archasteridae. It is commonly known as the sand star or the sand sifting star but these names are also applied to starfish in the genus Astropecten. It is found in shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific region.
Leptasterias polaris, the polar six-rayed star, is a species of starfish in the family Asteriidae. It is found in cold waters in the northwest Atlantic Ocean and in polar regions.
Ophiura albida is a species of brittle star in the order Ophiurida. It is typically found on the seabed in the north eastern Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea and is sometimes known as the serpent's table brittle star.
Nepanthia belcheri is a species of starfish in the family Asterinidae. It is found in shallow water in Southeast Asia and northeastern Australia. It is an unusual species in that it can reproduce sexually or can split in two by fission to form two new individuals. As a result, it has varying numbers of arms, and Hubert Lyman Clark, writing in 1938, stated, "It is a literal truth that no two of the 56 specimens at hand, nearly all from Lord Howe Island, are exactly alike in number, size and form of arms".
Pentaceraster cumingi, sometimes known as the Panamic cushion star, Cortez starfish or knobby star, is a species of starfish in the family Oreasteridae. It is found in warmer parts of the East Pacific and in Hawaii. In Panama this species has been collected from the Pearl Islands, Gulf of Panama, and off Coiba Island, Gulf of Chiriqui. It reaches a diameter of about 30 cm (12 in).
Marthasterias is a genus of starfish in the family Asteriidae. Both species in the genus are commonly known as the spiny starfish.
Aquilonastra conandae is a species of starfish from the family Asterinidae found near the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean. It is known for its asexual reproduction and is fissiparous. It is a small starfish, discrete and camouflaged, and occurs in coral reefs in the surf zone of large waves. The species was described in 2006 by Australian marine biologists P. Mark O'Loughlin and Francis Winston Edric Rowe, and gets its name from Chantal Conand.
Aquilonastra burtoni is a species of small sea star from the family Asterinidae from the Red Sea which has colonised the eastern Mediterranean by Lessepsian migration through the Suez Canal, although the Mediterranean populations are clonal reproducing through fissiparous asexual reproduction. It was originally described in 1840 by the English zoologist and philatelist John Edward Gray.
Henricia sexradiata is a species of starfish in the family Echinasteridae. It is native to the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Coscinasterias muricata is a species of starfish in the family Asteriidae. It is a large 11-armed starfish and occurs in shallow waters in the temperate western Indo-Pacific region.
Starfish, or sea stars, are radially symmetrical, star-shaped organisms of the phylum Echinodermata and the class Asteroidea. Aside from their distinguishing shape, starfish are most recognized for their remarkable ability to regenerate, or regrow, arms and, in some cases, entire bodies. While most species require the central body to be intact in order to regenerate arms, a few tropical species can grow an entirely new starfish from just a portion of a severed limb. Starfish regeneration across species follows a common three-phase model and can take up to a year or longer to complete. Though regeneration is used to recover limbs eaten or removed by predators, starfish are also capable of autotomizing and regenerating limbs to evade predators and reproduce.