Kingdom Animalia Class Asteroidea Family Goniasteridae Scientific name Hippasteria phrygiana | Phylum Echinodermata Order Valvatida Genus Hippasteria Rank Species | |
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Similar Hippasteria, Goniasteridae, Ctenodiscus, Porania, St Kilda house mo | ||
Hippasteria phrygiana is a sea star species, member of the Goniasteridae family.
Contents
Description and characteristics
This species grows up to 20cm in diameter, with short arms and a large body. The upper surface is red and covered with rounded knob-like spines; the lower surface contains many macroscopic bivalved pedicellariae.
Habitat and geographic range
This species is incredibly widely distributed: it is present in the 3 main oceanic basins.
It lives mostly in cold and deep waters.
Biology
This species feeds mostly on cnidarians, especially deep-sea corals.
References
Hippasteria phrygiana Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA