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Ophiuroidea
Small, brown and red echinoderm with its 5 arms. The underside is white with red spots and can be seen on the first image.
On the root ball of kelp that was uprooted during rough seas. They're "members of reef communities, where they hide under rocks and even within other living organisms." - Wikipedia
"The mouth is rimmed with five jaws, and serves as an anus (egestion) as well as a mouth (ingestion). Behind the jaws is a short esophagus and a large, blind stomach cavity which occupies much of the dorsal half of the disk. Ophiuroids have neither a head nor an anus. Digestion occurs within 10 pouches or infolds of the stomach, which are essentially ceca, but unlike in sea stars, almost never extend into the arms.[1] The stomach wall contains glandular hepatic cells. Ophiuroids are generally scavengers or detritivores. Small organic particles are moved into the mouth by the tube feet. Ophiuroids may also prey on small crustaceans or worms. Basket stars in particular may be capable of suspension feeding, using the mucus coating on their arms to trap plankton and bacteria. They extend one arm out and use the other four as anchors. Brittle stars will eat small suspended organisms if available. In large, crowded areas, brittle stars eat suspended matter from prevailing seafloor currents." - Wikipedia
Spotted on Apr 2, 2012
Submitted on Apr 3, 2012
4 Comments
Thanks Emma. This is my first time spotting these. They're pretty cool. I've changed the leading image to the one you like :)
lovely star. i like the 4th picture the most.
Thanks Gerardo
Nice spotting!