Common sun star
| Common sun star | ||||||||||||
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Common sun star ( Crossaster papposus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Crossaster papposus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1776) |
The common sun star ( Crossaster papposus ) is a type of sun star from the order of the flap stars (Valvatida), which is represented circumboreally in the North Atlantic and North Pacific .
features
The common sun star usually has 8 to 14 comparatively short arms and reaches a diameter of up to 30 cm. The top of the common sun star is reddish with concentric stripes of white, pink, yellow or dark red color, the underside is white. The skin on the top contains brush-like spines that are slightly longer at the edges. The thick central disk is quite large and has a net-like pattern of raised ridges. The mouth area is bare. The Madreporenplatte is clearly delimited.
Reproduction
Like most starfish, the common sun star is segregated. The females and males release the germ cells into the water, where the egg cells are fertilized. The larvae that emerge from this in late winter feed on yolk. Annual sun stars are 1.8 cm to 4.0 cm in size and then grow about 2 cm per year. Young animals still prefer sandy soils on the sea floor. With a size of about 5 cm, the sun stars migrate into shallow water and, with increasing size, finally to greater depths.
Crossaster papposus reproduces exclusively sexually, but it can regenerate missing arms as long as part of the central disc is still present.
Distribution and occurrence
The common sun star is circumboreal in the North Atlantic from the Arctic to the English Channel , in the North Sea , on the North American east coast to the Gulf of Maine , in the North Pacific from Alaska to Puget Sound , also in Greenland , Iceland , the Barents Sea , Kola Bay , the Okhotsk Sea and the White Sea .
The common sun star lives on rocky ground, coarse sand and gravel from the surf zone to a depth of about 300 m. Young animals can also be found in tidal pools .
nutrition
The common sun star is a carnivore that feeds primarily on smaller starfish , including sun stars . Other prey animals are sea urchins , mussels , cnidarians and sea squirts . The prey is swallowed as a whole, or - in the case of larger prey and sessile animals - the stomach is pulled over it. The sun star also feeds on carrion .
literature
- Sven Gehrmann: The fauna of the North Sea - lower animals & vertebrates . Epubli, Berlin 2011. p. 153.
- HG Hansson (2001): Echinodermata . In: MJ Costello et al. (Ed.): European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification . Collection Patrimoines Naturels 50, pp. 336-351.
- AM Clark, ME Downey: Starfishes of the Atlantic . Chapman & Hall Identification Guides, 3rd Chapman & Hall, London 1992. ISBN 0-412-43280-3
Web links
- Heather Grush: Crossaster papposus . Animal Diversity Web, 1999.
- World Register of Marine Species : CL Mah, HG Hansson (2009): Crossaster papposus (Linnaeus, 1776) . In: CL Mah, (2009). World Asteroidea database.
- Catalog of Life
- National Center for Biotechnology Information
- Ocean Eye