Name: Spiny brittle star
Scientific Name: Ophiothrix spiculata Le Conte
Family: Ophiotricidae
Group: Sea-stars, sea-urchins and sea-cucumbers
Class: Invertebrates
Size: 26-50 cm.
The spiny brittle stars are distant relatives of the starfish and are found in intertidal zones (in tidal pools) up to 2000 metres deep (they are very common close to giant kelps). They have got a central disk clearly separated from their long and flexible arms, which, in this species' case, are covered with long and erectile spines. Their very fragile arms are used for locomotion but also for capturing the planktonic organisms they feed on. They can easily regenerate the parts of their body they have lost. In the deepest zones, it is possible to find groups of more than a million individuals carpeting the seabed.
Photo by:
James Watanabe (seanet.stanford.edu)
Temperate Pacific
