Common sun star | Sun, Star, Stars, Arms, Suckers

Common sun star

Common sun star/Spiny sun star (Crossaster papposus) Unlike its relative the common sea star, the sun star can have anywhere from 8 to 14 arms! The arms of the sun star are about as long as the main body of the sun star is wide and the overall width of a suns star is about 14 inches. The top of the sun star is a reddish color with rings of white or pink and is covered by tiny bristles or spines. The underside of the body is a whitish color and, like all sea stars, sun stars have suckers lining the underside of their arms. These suckers are used to walk around on the sea floor and also to secure the sun star to rocks and other hard surfaces in order to prevent itself from being carried away by tides and strong currents. Sun stars are top predators and are very successful hunters of urchins, bivalves and other marine invertebrates. The mouth of the sun star is actually located on the underside of the central disc of the body.

NOAA image

Using their suckers, sun stars attach to the two halves of a bivalve shell and apply pressure until the halves are pulled apart. Once the shell is open, the sun star everts its stomach into the shell, externally digests the prey, and then absorbs it into the stomach. Sun stars also have amazing regenerative capabilities. Predators, like bottom-feeding fish and some crabs, often bite off arms of sun stars. However, as long as enough of the main body survives, a sun star can re-grow its missing arms! Sun stars are found along rocky bottoms from the low tide line to over 1,000 feet deep. Sun stars are generally safe to handle, and if you do pick one up, be sure to place it back where you found it with suckers on the bottom.

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email This

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry