Echinaster sepositus

Red starfish

   Echinaster sepositus is a starfish of up to 20 cm in diameter, but which can reach sometimes up to 30 cm. It has five long cylindrical tapering arms surrounding a small central disc. Its surface is covered by numerous small craters and its colour is bright red-orange. It lives on rocky bottoms.
It is found from 1 m to 250 m deep. It is common in the Mediterranean Sea, on the French coasts of the English channel and on the African coasts down to the Equator. In other areas of the North-East Atlantic Ocean, it is rare or even absent.

Classification

 (source : European Register of Marine Species)

• Echinodermata [Phylum]
• Asterozoa [Subphylum]
• Stelleroidea [Class]
• Asteroidea [Subclass]
• Spinulosida [Order]
• Echinasteridae [Family]
• Echinaster (Echinaster) sepositus (Retzius, 1783)

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Authors

Top photograph :
© Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with author's kind permission : 
Echinaster sepositus, Illes Medes, Costa Brava, East Spain. Depth 10 meters.
Bottom photograph : © Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with author's kind permission : 
Echinaster sepositus, . Anse de Camaret, West-Brittany, West of France. Depth 13 meters.
Text :  Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005-2010.
Translation :  Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007-2010.

How to cite this page in publications

Bay-Nouailhat A., December 2005, Description of Echinaster sepositus, Available on line at http://www.european-marine-life.org/30/echinaster-sepositus.php, consulted on 01 August 2010.
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