| Protoreaster lincki | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata |
| Class: | Asteroidea |
| Order: | Valvatida |
| Family: | Oreasteridae |
| Genus: | Protoreaster |
| Species: | P. lincki |
| Binomial name | |
| Protoreaster lincki (Blainville, 1834) | |
Protoreaster lincki, the red knob sea star, red spine star, African sea star, [1] or the African red knob sea star, [2] is a species of starfish from the Indian Ocean. [3] [4]
P. lincki grows to a maximum diameter of 12 in (30 cm). It has numerous tubercles located along its five arms. These tubercles are bright red and extend upward from the arms. It has a gray body with red stripes that connect the tubercles. This creates an appearance of a grid made of interconnecting wires. [5]
The skeleton is composed of many calcareous ossicles and spicules. They are located inside the layer of connective tissue. This skeleton supports the large central disk. [6]
It is distributed in the western Indian Ocean [7] [8]
The red-knobbed starfish can only be found in the Indian Ocean, mostly along the African coast and Madagascar, north to India and Sri Lanka. A small population is also present in Coral Bay, Western Australia. [9]
They prefer sandy or muddy seabeds because it is easier for them to search and forage for food. While they are most often seen in shallow tidal pools, they can live in a variety of depths, down to 100 m (330 ft) deep. [10] Red-knobbed starfish are carnivorous animals that eat a number of sea creatures.
P. lincki is active in both daytime and nightime. [11] It is a popular aquarium specimen, but is considered incompatible with many other invertebrates, as it will eat soft corals, sponges, tube worms, clams, other starfish, and the like. [12]
It is also a heavily fished species for the curios trade, which contributes to the rarefaction of the species. [9]
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.
Linckia laevigata is a species of sea star in the shallow waters of tropical Indo-Pacific.
Protoreaster nodosus, commonly known as the horned sea star or chocolate chip sea star, is a species of sea star found in the warm, shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific region. They are sometimes seen in the marine aquarium trade or dried and sold as curios.
Culcita is a genus of cushion stars. They are found in tropical waters. Some are kept in home aquariums.
Nidorellia armata, also known as the chocolate chip star, is a species of starfish from warmer parts of the East Pacific, where it ranges from the Gulf of California to northwest Peru, including the Galápagos. It is the only species in the genus Nidorellia. N. armata can be found in tropical waters clinging on corals and rocky reefs; and are sometimes kept as pets in home marine aquariums.
The Forcipulatida are an order of sea stars, containing three families and 49 genera.
Choriaster is monotypic genus in the family Oreasteridae containing the single species Choriaster granulatus commonly known as the granulated sea star. Other common names include big-plated sea star and doughboy starfish. This species is harmless to humans.
Protoreaster is a genus of sea stars in the family Oreasteridae from the Indo-Pacific. They are sometimes seen in the marine aquarium trade.
Leptasterias hexactis is a species of starfish in the family Asteriidae, commonly known as the six-rayed star. It is found in the intertidal zone of the western seaboard of the United States. It is a predator and is unusual among starfish in that it broods its eggs and young.
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.
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.
Ophidiaster granifer, the grained seastar, is a species of starfish in the family Ophidiasteridae. It is found in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific and is the only known species of starfish to reproduce by parthenogenesis.
Trophodiscus almus is a species of starfish in the family Astropectinidae. It is found in fairly deep waters in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan and around the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is very unusual among starfish in that it broods its young on its upper surface. Its common name in Japanese is "Komochi-momiji".
Aquilonastra chantalae is a species of starfish from the family Asterinidae. Asterinid sea stars are typically quite small with an often pentagonal-shaped body, though there are exceptions. They are dorsally flattened and have short arms. The body's thin periphery is built up by very small marginal plates. One distinct characteristic of those in this family is the presence of an aboral face shaped by crescent-like plates.
Ailsa McGown Clark (1926–2014) was a British zoologist, who principally studied echinoderms and was a specialist on asteroidea. She worked at the Natural History Museum for most of her career.
Maureen Elizabeth Downey was an American zoologist who worked for three decades at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Known as "The Starfish Lady," she was an authority on sea stars and other echinoderms, co-founding the International Echinoderm Conference in 1972. Among her discoveries is Midgardia xandaros, the world's largest starfish.
Helen Elizabeth Shearburn Rotman was a New Zealand expert on echinoderms, specifically starfish.
Thromidia catalai, sometimes called the heavy starfish, is a species of starfish in the family Mithrodiidae in the order Valvatida. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region. Thromidia catalai is one of the largest and heaviest starfishes in the world. It is reported to weigh as much as 6 kg (13 lb) and have a diameter of 60 to 65 cm. This species was first described by the Australian biologists E. C. Pope and F. W. E. Rowe in 1977, the type locality being New Caledonia.
Rathbunaster is a monospecific genus of sea stars belonging to the family Asteriidae. The genus name was given by Fisher as a honorific of the starfish biologist Richard Rathbun of the Smithsonian Institution. He originally ranged this genus under the family Pycnopididae, synonymous with Asteriidae.
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