Glénan Archipelago, France, 6 meters, 2005, WBN
Asterias rubens is a starfish that may reach a diameter up to 50 cm but its average size is about 15 cm. The common starfish has five cylindrical tapering arms ending with a photosensitive ocella. Its colour is variable: yellowish-brown, orange or violet. The lower face with the mouth is yellowish. Its upper surface is irregular, covered with spines surrounded by groups of pedicellariae. Asterias rubens lives on rocks or boulders feeding on mussels or oysters.
Asterias rubens is present from surface to 200 m deep, in the Atlantic Ocean down to Cape Verde Islands, in the English Channel, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
Source : World Register of Marine Species
Dernière mise à jour 19-04-2024
Pedicellariae : minute jawed elements of sea urchins and starfish used to clean body surface and as defensive means.
Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005 - 2024.
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 : Asterias rubens in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-04-19.
Pedicellariae : minute jawed elements of sea urchins and starfish used to clean body surface and as defensive means.
Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005 - 2024.
Photos : ©
Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with his kind permission.
Websites and reference works : Consult bibliography
Bay-Nouailhat A., May 2005, Description of Asterias rubens, [On line] https://european-marine-life.org/30/asterias-rubens.php, consulted on 2024 April 19.
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Project manager in marine environment
Professional diver - Naturalist
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