CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hans Hillewaert · source
Quick Facts
- Type
- Other
- Size
- 10–30 cm across
- Weight
- Up to about 75–100 g
- Habitat
- Rocky coast and shallow sea beds
- Diet
- Carnivore — mussels, clams, and other molluscs
- Active Time
- Slow-moving, active day and night
- Lifespan
- 5–10 years
Field Notes
- To eat a mussel, the starfish pulls the shell apart and pushes its stomach out through its mouth to digest the prey externally.
- Each arm tip carries a simple eyespot that senses light, helping the animal orient itself.
- A common starfish can regenerate an arm lost to a predator, and the central disc can regrow if enough remains.
- It moves on hundreds of tiny tube feet powered by an internal water vascular system rather than muscles alone.
About the Common Starfish
The Common Starfish is the familiar sea star of the northeastern Atlantic, found from Norway and Britain down to West Africa and along North American coasts. It lives on rocky coasts and shallow sea beds, sometimes in large numbers, creeping over the bottom on hundreds of water-powered tube feet. A slow but relentless predator, it pulls open mussels and clams with its arms, then pushes its stomach out through its mouth to digest the prey inside its own shell. With a light-sensing eyespot at each arm tip and the power to regrow lost arms, this five-armed echinoderm is one of the shore's most recognizable invertebrates.
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