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| Coscinasterias calamaria (Gray, 1840) |
Coscinasterias calamaria, or the eleven-armed sea star, is a sea star of the family Asteriidae, endemic to southern Australia and New Zealand. Starfish (also called sea stars) are any Echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. In Biological classification, family ( Latin Asteriidae is a family of Asteroidea (sea stars in the order Forcipulatida. Endemism is the Ecological state of being unique to a place Endemic species are not naturally found elsewhere For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island It is found around low tide levels and below, under rocks and wandering over algae in pools. Armspread is up to 30 cm. A centimetre ( American spelling: centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one hundredth
Coscinasterias calamaria is the largest seastar in southern Australia and New Zealand. Although called the eleven-armed sea star there can be any number up to 14, but 11 is the norm. They are often found with arms of varying lengths, regenerating to their original length. It can reproduce itself by fissiparity (self division), being capable of regenerating even one arm into a whole new body, but only if the arm includes part of the central disc. There are rows of spines on the dorsal surface, while rings of pneumatic walking pedicellariae (tubercles) are in parallel rows both underneath and on top of the arms. In Anatomy, the dorsum is the upper side of animals that typically run fly or swim in a horizontal position and the back side of animals (like humans that walk upright Pneumatics, Pressurized gas to affect mechanical motion Pneumatic power is used in Industry, where it is common to have factory units plumbed for Compressed tubercle (anatomyA tubercle is generally a wart-like projection but it has slightly different meaning depending on which family of plants or animals it is used to refer to
There are smell sensors at the tips of the arms, and the animal can navigate precisely to any source of food, often arriving there before others. It then extends its stomach over its prey, to digest it outside its body. It can last for many weeks without food, the body steadily shrinking.
This sea star is normally blue, with shades of brown, orange, red, cream, mauve, green, grey, and white. The bi-coloured spines may be blue at the base and salmon pink at the tips.
References
- Miller M & Batt G, Reef and Beach Life of New Zealand, William Collins (New Zealand) Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1973
- Mesa
- SeaFriends
This echinoderm-related article is a stub. HarperCollins is a Publishing company owned by News Corporation. Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. Echinoderms (Phylum Echinodermata) are a phylum of marine Animals (including Sea stars) You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic