Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Icon Sea Star

Iconaster longimanus

Description:

Classic pentagon-shaped sea star, but with long, slender "fingers" extending from each point, covered in a mosaic pattern. Ocher in color, with the center in red, overlaid with a light-blue pattern of dotted lines. Also known as Icon Starfish, Double Sea Star, Double Starfish, Long-arm Sea Star, Long-arm Starfish, Mosaic Sea Star and Mosaic Starfish. They feed on molluscs, worms and detritus, and grow to a length of about 12cm.

Habitat:

Found singly or in groups on sand and rocky reefs on lower slopes, usually in deeper waters than most sea stars (up to 200m). Widespread in the West Pacific.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

8 Comments

Blogie
Blogie 12 years ago

Art does imitate nature!

The MnMs
The MnMs 12 years ago

This is amazing! Not even made on purpose, looks like a painting.

Blogie
Blogie 12 years ago

Very well put, Nicholas! And thanks for the link. :)

Nicholas4
Nicholas4 12 years ago

Another mind-boggling spotting my good friend!
Unbelievably precious and so vivid!
It is reminiscent of tile floors from yesteryear.. like Roman times...
check this site as a reference..
http://www.alamaras.gr/index.php/product...

Blogie
Blogie 12 years ago

@whatsthatfish - Hey, nice to see you on Project Noah! Thanks for the ID! But, I can't seem to find this sea star entry on WhatsThatFish.com...

Blogie
Blogie 12 years ago

Thanks guys! It was my first time to see that sea star too.

KarenL
KarenL 12 years ago

Beautiful!

Maria dB
Maria dB 12 years ago

wow, what a spectular sea star!

Blogie
Spotted by
Blogie

Davao Del Norte, Philippines

Spotted on Dec 17, 2011
Submitted on Jan 28, 2012

Nearby Spottings

Honeycomb Sea Star Reticulated Nudibranch Spiny Devilfish Magnificent Anemone Shrimp
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team