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.
It 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 : European Register of Marine Species)
Cirri : Articulated prehensive extensions arising from the lower surface of the central disc used to cling on hard substrata.
Top photograph :
© Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with author's kind permission :
Antedon bifida,
Rade de Brest, West-Brittany, West of France. Depth 8 meters.
Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005-2017.
Translation : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007-2017.
