''Parvulastra exigua'', or the dwarf cushion starJones, Georgina. ''A field guide to the marine animals of the Cape Peninsula.'' SURG, Cape Town, 2008. is a species of sea star in the family

Asterinidae The Asterinidae are a large family of sea stars in the order Valvatida. Description and characteristics These are generally small sea stars, flattened dorsally and bearing very short arms, often giving a pentagonal shape in the body ;example: ...

. It can be found in temperate intertidal marine communities from geographically widespread sites around the southern hemisphere (including

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Description

''Parvulastra exigua'' has pentagonal body with no obvious protruding arms. Dorsal surface is tiled with a small cluster of spines at each tile. Colour is variegated, with bright patterns in orange, brown, green and white.

Distribution

''Parvulastra exigua'' is found from Namibia to Mozambique on

intertidal zone The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species o ...

s up to 3 m, on St Helena, St Paul, and southeastern Australia.

Natural history

''Parvulastra exigua'' occurs in the intertidal zone and slightly deeper, and is well camouflaged. It feeds on microscopic algae by everting stomach onto substrate. No planktonic larval stage is present.

References

Asterinidae Fauna of the Atlantic Ocean Fauna of the Indian Ocean Fauna of the Pacific Ocean Animals described in 1816 Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck {{Asteroidea-stub