Sunflower sea star
Pycnopodia helianthoides
- Scientific name
- Pycnopodia helianthoides
- Group
- Echinoderms (starfish, urchins...)
- Rarity
- Epic
- Where to see it
- Cold / polar waters
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Critically endangered
Did you know?
The sunflower sea star can have up to 24 arms and moves surprisingly fast thanks to its thousands of tube feet. A wasting disease has wiped out more than 90% of its populations since 2013, triggering a cascade of urchin overpopulation and kelp forest loss.
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.