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Deepseawaters Home Deepsea
AnimalsBlue Sea Star
Blue Sea Star
Common Name: Blue Starfish
Scientific Name: Linckia Laevigata
Description
 The
Blue Sea Star has 5 cylindrical arms with rounded tips
and an eye at each end. The eyes see only light and darkness.
The mouth is found in the centre of the body on the underside.
Animals less than 5 cm wide are blue-green with dark spots.
As they mature they most commonly acquire a bright blue colour,
although there are colour variants throughout the Indo-Pacific
ranging from bright blue to green, pink or yellow. Juveniles
have pale yellow tube feet and adults have dark yellow feet.
Maximum size is approximately 30cm.
Diet
When
sea stars eat, they sit on top of the food and push their
stomach out through their mouth to cover the food and digest
it externally. The Blue Sea Star is an omonivore
(eats both plants and animals). It is predominantly a scavenger,
living on dead organisms within the coral reef and on rocks,
but also feeds on algae and microbes.
Behaviour
Sea
stars move very slowly using their water filled tubes and
tube feet that stick out through the skin to hold onto surfaces.
They use a water-vascular system that works on water pressure,
creating a network of tube feet that look like hundreds of
tiny, hydraulically operated legs.
Life
History
Blue
Sea Stars have separate sexes (male and female). To reproduce,
they release large numbers of eggs into the water. Sea stars
are restricted to their home reef as adults, but are able
to disperse as larvae.
Habitat
Commonly
found on coral reef flats, rocky reefs and other shallow areas,
especially in areas with wave action.
Special
Features or Habits
A special feature about sea stars is that they can regenerate
their arms if damaged or lost, growing back into a full sea
star (although they are fragile and often do not survive a
lot of damage to their limbs). The Blue Sea Star frequently
plays host to a tiny shrimp and sometimes a small gastropod
snail that are identical in colour to the sea star. The shrimp
or snail live in the grooves on the underside of the arms.
Location
or Region Found
They
are found throughout the Indo-Pacific region from eastern
Africa (absent from the Red Sea) to Hawaii, the
South Pacific Islands, Australia, Thailand, and Japan.
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