Linck's Walzenseestern
| Linck's Walzenseestern | ||||||||||||
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Lincks Walzenseestern ( Protoreaster linckii ) |
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| Protoreaster linckii | ||||||||||||
| Blainville , 1834 |
Linck's Walzenseestern ( Protoreaster linckii ) is a large, 30 centimeter diameter starfish . He lives in the tropical Indian Ocean from East Africa to Western Australia.
features
Linck's Walzenseestern has a massive body with very broad arms at the base of the trunk, rounded at the front and triangular in cross-section. The body and arms are covered by large red thorns, the tips of which are lighter and connected by red lines. In the middle of the fuselage, five high thorns form a pentagon. Lincks Walzenseestern has a cream, light brown or red and white basic color.
Way of life
Linck's Walzenseesterne live individually or in loose groups on sand and mud zones, between seaweed and on coral reefs , at depths between one and 30 meters. They feed on everything that is organic in origin and that can overwhelm them. To her food range includes algae, detritus , sessile invertebrate animals, such as sponges and anemones , snails , clams , crustaceans , bristle worms , small echinoderms and sleeping fish. The spines wound there is often a small brittle star ( Ophiothela sp.).
The echinoderms usually reproduce sexually by releasing the gametes into the water; in addition, asexual reproduction by division occurs very rarely.
Because of the beautiful colors, the animals are collected, dried and sold to tourists as souvenirs.
literature
- Svein A. Fossa / Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium Volume 6 , Schmettkamp Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-928819-18-6
- Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 3, Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-103-8
- Helmut Schuhmacher / Johannes Hinterkircher: Lower marine animals . BLV Verlagsgesellschaft 1996, ISBN 3-405-14854-5
