Sunflower Sea Star a miracle specious in the sea

Sea Star’s Back

A sunflower sea star is draped moplike over a seafloor rock off the British Columbia coast.

A close-up reveals the backside of a sea star in Indonesian waters. This star boasts a full complement of five arms but it may not always keep them.



Basket StarBasket stars, like this one in California’s Monterey Bay, live along North America’s Pacific coast from the Bering Sea to California.


Sea Star on Mussel Bed
A colorful sea star heads toward a bed of mussels in Clallam Bay, Washington.



Crown-of-Thorns Sea StarsCrown-of-thorns sea stars like this group on Kingman Reef in the Pacific can inflict a painful sting to humans, but they are far more dangerous to corals.


Star FishSome 2,000 sea star species live throughout the world’s oceans. Some weigh as much as 11 pounds (5 kilograms) and stretch more than 2 feet (65 centimeters) across, but others are only half an inch (1 centimeter) in diameter.


Biscuit Sea StarLike sand dollars and sea urchins, sea stars are echinoderms, those of the “spiny skin.”


Sun Star Feeding on Penguin Carcass
Sea stars are remarkable for what they lack. They have no blood, but instead use filtered seawater to circulate nutrients throughout their bodies

Sea Star A sea star sits on the bottom of a shallow cove in Belize