Astropecten ''Astropecten'' is a genus of sea stars of the family Astropectinidae. Identification These sea stars are similar one to each other and it can be difficult to determine with certainty the species only from a photograph. To have a certain d ...

aranciacus'', the red comb star, is a

sea star Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...

of the family

Astropectinidae The Astropectinidae are a family of sea stars in the order Paxillosida. Usually, these starfish live on the seabed and immerse themselves in soft sediment such as sand and mud. They are not to be confused with species in the genus '' Archaster'' ...

. It is native to the east Atlantic Ocean (

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

) and

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

Habitat and behaviour

''Astropecten aranciacus'' lives very near the coast, and at low tide it buries itself in the sand, showing only the centre of its upper side which is swollen in the form of a cone. This cone acts like a sense organ. When it is touched, the cone contracts and the starfish buries itself on the sand again. Then at high tide, the starfish reappears on the surface of the substrate. It buries itself in the sand to shield parts of its body from the rays of the sun, especially the bottom surface which has no coloured pigment and is therefore particularly sensitive. ''Astropecten aranciacus'' lives on sandy, muddy or gravel bottoms at depths of . This species is active and easy to find in the late afternoon and during the night.

Description

This starfish has superomarginal plates equipped with 1 to 3 small spines and inferomarginal plates with long, pointed, strong, regularly arranged spines. The inferomarginal spines have reddish-orange colour at the base and yellowish or white colour towards the tip. It is rugged with normal size disc and pointed arms. The colour of the aboral side is given by a succession of paxillae (from the top they look like round points) with upper extremity red-orange in various combinations with paxillae with upper extremity grey or beige. The superomarginal plates are usually grey or beige homogeneous. This is the largest species of ''

'' in the Mediterranean Sea, with a maximum diameter of , although it usually measures about . It is a starfish with a lot of features and can be distinguished easily from the other species by colour and size. Sometimes it is confused with ''

Astropecten irregularis ''Astropecten irregularis'' is a sea star of the family Astropectinidae. Common names include Sand sea star (A. i. pontoporeus).Jones, Georgina. ''A field guide to the marine animals of the Cape Peninsula.'' SURG, Cape Town, 2008. Habitat and ...

''.

Feeding

This sea star is a

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

and feeds on

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s, which it catches with its arms and then takes to the mouth. The prey is then trapped by the long, moving prickles around the mouth cavity.

References

Roberto Pillon (2009). Astropecten of the Mediterranean Sea
* Koehler, Réné. 1921. ''Faune de France. Echinodermes''. * Tortonese, Enrico. 1965. ''Fauna d'Italia. Echinodermata''. * Ludwig, Hubert. 1897. ''Die Seesterne des Mittelmeeres. Zoologischen station zu Neapel''.

External links

Downloadable WoRMS: Roberto Pillon (2009). Astropecten of the Mediterranean Sea

Downloadable WoRMS: Roberto Pillon (2009). Orientarsi in un mare di stelle

DORIS

Naturamediterraneo
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1438455 Astropecten Fauna of the Atlantic Ocean Fauna of the Mediterranean Sea Animals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus