Friday, February 22, 2013

Extra! Solaster feeding caught forever in the museum!

A cool find that a student (Eric T.) fr. American U. found while working on a project.. Solaster endeca with the arm from what looks like Asterias rubens
 Here is the predator alive...
Solaster endeca
and the prey (where the arm comes from)
Asterias forbesi, dorsal

Solaster is one of the few starfish which is known to feed primarily (at least in some species) on OTHER starfish!  Here was something I wrote awhile back on the Pacific Solaster dawsoni...

morning sun star- solaster dawsoni
and here is a nice pic of the North Pacific S. dawsoni feeding on Hippasteria
expl1022
It is so fearsome that EVEN the sunflower star Pycnopodia RUNS from it!

and here's a nice bit about when starfish are eating and uh... overreach...


NOM! NOM! NOM!

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