Starfish species

Discover 20 starfish species that highlight the diversity of the Asteroidea order, from the chunky granulated sea star to the venomous crown-of-thorns.

Protoreaster nodosus from Semaku (Singapore)

The echinoderms more closely resemble disembodied heads than multi-limbed creatures, experts have discovered

Starfish are such a common sight for anyone exploring beaches, tidepools and the ocean. But have you stopped to consider how weird they are??

Lots of attention is paid during an outbreak, but the seastars soon disappear, said one researcher a...

Description Fine art illustration of various species of the world's starfish and seastars

Another photo of the cushion sea star (Oreaster reticulatus) scooting along in about a foot of water near Munyon Island in the Lake Worth Lagoon estuary. The lighter colored round feature at lower center is called a madreporite. It acts like a pressure equalizing valve and filters seawater into the sea star's water vascular system. These beauties are protected under Florida law. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madreporite

Images here from the Encyclopedia of Life This week, something about the many different KINDS of asteroids (aka sea star or starfish!) that are found throughout the world. Data for this, is from a paper I wrote with Dan Blake last year for PLOS One. You can download it for free here! based on info at the World Asteroidea Database. I can't tell you how many times I've read something about starfish in pop culture or even in pop sci-and the writer assumes that starfish are the SAME all over the…

If you think starfish with 4 or 6 arms are weird, wait til you realize that there are species with 10, 20 and even 40 arms! Out of the 2k starfish species, the most common variety is the one with 5 arms. Which is why they're what you most often see in cartoons (remember Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants?), drawings, movies, and photos.Oh, and in case you were wondering, some scientists are pushing to rename starfish as sea stars because they're, well, not fish!