Rade de Brest, France, 8 meters, 2008, WBN
Glénan Archipelago, France, 10 meters, 2005, WBN
Antedon bifida is a feather-star of 10 to 15 cm (rarely 20) in diameter. The central disc, not clearly visible at first sight, is surrounded by 10 feathery arms reaching up to 10 cm long. Its color varies from crimson to red, yellow or whitish often with stripess, red and white for example, or mottlings. Antedon bifida is attached temporarily to rocks, seaweeds or sea-fans by means of 20 to 30 short articulated cirri arising from the lower face of the central disc. It feeds on plankton captured by means of its extended feathery arms. It can also swim by alternate undulations of its arms to escape predators or find a better place to feed.
Antedon bifida is present from surface to depths up to 200 m in the Atlantic Ocean from the British coast down to the Portuguese coasts, in the English Channel and the North Sea.
Source : World Register of Marine Species
Dernière mise à jour 19-07-2025
Cirri : articulated prehensive extensions arising from the lower surface of the central disc used to cling on hard substrata.
Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007 - 2025.
Photos : ©
Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with his kind permission.
Websites and reference works : Consult bibliography
Image satellite: © Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community.
Données de distribution : Antedon bifida in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-07-19.
Cirri : articulated prehensive extensions arising from the lower surface of the central disc used to cling on hard substrata.
Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007 - 2025.
Photos : ©
Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with his kind permission.
Websites and reference works : Consult bibliography
Bay-Nouailhat A., September 2007, Description of Antedon bifida, [On line] https://european-marine-life.org/30/antedon-bifida.php, consulted on 2025 July 19.
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Project manager in marine environment
Professional diver - Naturalist
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