Sea Stars (Asteroidea)

This is a rare find at shallow depths-- a juvenile Knobby sea star (Pentaceraster cumingi), usually only found at depths greater that 100'. I spoke with sea star expert Christopher Mah, and he not only feels that ID is probably correct, but told me it's one of the first accounts of a juvenile of this species! Check out Christopher's blog at http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/
If you think all sea stars move slowly, you've never seen a Magnificent sea star. These huge stars (this one was about 30 cm across) glide effortlessly and quickly across the sand, eating primarily other echinoderms. Most Magnificent sea stars (Luidia magnifica) have 10-11 arms and darker coloration...this is a variant sub-species (Luidia aspera) which has reddish markings and only 8 arms--and this specimen has lost one or two and is in the process of regenerating.
Luidia aspera--look at those tube feet!
Luidia aspera--you can see the tip of an arm regenerating in the foreground right.
A tiny sea star--about 6 cm--if the ID on the last orange-red sea star I found was correct, this is another juvenile Knobby sea star (Pentaceraster cumingi), though obviously showing some serious color variation!

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