SEA STARS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST CRESTED STAR Lophaster furcilliger

Class Asteroidea

Order Velatida

Family Solasteridae

CRESTED STAR

Lophaster furcilliger Fisher, 1905

Identification:

5 tapering arms. Aboral surface mesh-like with many spiny tufts. Pale yellow to orange. To 16.4 cm (6.5 in) across.

Range:

Southern Bering Sea to northern California; 12 to 670 m (39 to 2,198 ft).

A typical CRESTED STAR. Note the regular mesh-like ridges topped with spiny projections.

Close-up view showing the coarse meshwork of the aboral surface with stout, spine-topped pillars arising at the junction of each mesh.

A more swollen specimen: note the gill clusters protruding through the skeleton.

This pale specimen was found in Barkley Sound, BC.

A specimen from Sechelt Inlet, BC, where they are reasonably common.

This one is eating a FEATHER STAR Florometra serratissima.

6 - 6

Notes:

Uncommon, but encountered fairly often in Sechelt Inlet, BC. Also observed in Barkley Sound, BC. On rocky substrates it eats FEATHER STARS, sponges and CREEPING PEDAL SEA CUCUMBERS. On mud substrates it eats brittlestars, sea urchins, polychaetes and detritus.