Marthasterias glacialis

Description

Marthasterias glacialis is a starfish of 30 to 40 cm in diameter but it may be up to 80 cm. Its surface is covered by linear papillae from which arise large conical spines surrounded by numerous pedicellariae easily visible under magnifying glass. The colour is variable: whitish, bluish, pink, purple, greenish-grey or brown. It has five cylindrical tapering arms with a photosensitive ocella at their tips. For this reason, the spiny starfish often rolls up its arm-tips to detect movements. It feeds on various animals, dead or alive, such as molluscs, shellfish, fish or other echinoderms. It is a voracious starfish which may cause important damages in mussel and oyster farmings. Very common on Brittany coasts, it has seen its population grow very quickly because of its great regeneration ability: regularly caught in fishers'nets, they were torn to pieces and thrown back to sea by fishermen firmly believing that thus the starfish would die!

Distribution

Marthasterias glacialis lives on rocky bottoms from surface to depths up to 180 m. It is found in the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

How to cite this page

Bay-Nouailhat A., September 2005, Description of Marthasterias glacialis, [On line] https://www.european-marine-life.org/30/marthasterias-glacialis.php, consulted on 2024 April 18.