Echinodermata · echinoderms
Forbes sea star
Asterias forbesi
Asteriidae · forcipulate sea starsIUCN: Not evaluated
An orange sea star of Northeast shores and a serious predator of oyster beds.
Fun factIt opens bivalves by pushing its stomach through a tiny gap in the shell.
- Waters
- Northeast US, Northwest Atlantic
- Depth zone
- Intertidal shore, Coastal shallows & estuaries
- Diet
- Clams, oysters & mussels
- Size
- Up to 25 cm
Classification
Echinodermata › Asteroidea › Asteriidae
- Kingdom Animalia animals
- Many-celled organisms that eat other living things for energy (heterotrophs)
- Cells have no cell walls
- Most can move at some stage of life
- Clade Bilateria bilateral animals
- Body has a left and right side that mirror each other (bilateral symmetry)
- Head end with concentrated nerves; three tissue layers
- Includes about 99% of all living animal species
- Clade Deuterostomia deuterostomes
- In the embryo, the first opening becomes the anus and the mouth forms second
- Includes echinoderms and chordates
- Phylum Echinodermata echinoderms
- Adults usually have five-part radial symmetry
- Water-vascular system powers tiny tube feet
- Skeleton of limestone plates (ossicles) in the skin
- Class Asteroidea sea stars
- Sea stars: usually five or more arms joined broadly to a central disc
- Tube feet on the underside of each arm
- Many push their stomach out to digest prey
- Family Asteriidae forcipulate sea stars
- Forcipulate sea stars with tiny pincers (pedicellariae) on the skin
- Major predators of mussels and oysters
- Genus Asterias
- Species in the same genus are very close relatives and often look alike.
- Species Asterias forbesi Forbes sea star
Closest relatives in the guide
- Common starfish Asterias rubens same genus
- Blood star Henricia sanguinolenta same class
- Crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci same class
- Sunflower sea star Pycnopodia helianthoides same class