Red sea star
Echinaster sepositus
- Scientific name
- Echinaster sepositus
- Group
- Echinoderms (starfish, urchins...)
- Rarity
- Common
- Where to see it
- Mediterranean
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Not evaluated
Did you know?
The red sea star, common on rocky Mediterranean seabeds, moves using hundreds of tiny tube feet on the underside of its five arms. If it loses an arm, it can fully regenerate it over the following months.
What defines this group — Echinoderms (starfish, urchins...)
Starfish, urchins and sea cucumbers: a five-fold symmetry found nowhere else in the animal kingdom.
- The body is arranged in fives around a centre: no head, no front, no back.
- They move on hundreds of tube feet driven by water under pressure.
- Many regrow a lost arm; some starfish can rebuild themselves from a single one.