Orange knobby star
species of echinoderm
The orange knobby star, Echinaster echinophorus, is a species of sea star found in the Caribbean Sea and along the Atlantic coast of South America.
Description
It is a small species with a diameter of up to 7 cm (2.8 in). It has a small central disc and five spatulate arms, tapering very little and with rounded tips. The arms are oval in cross section and on the aboral (upper) side have one or two rows of bluntly conical spines, and more rows of spines on the sides of the arms and on the oral (under) surface, on either side of the ambulacral grooves. The colour is usually some shade of red or orange.
Distribution and habitat
Echinaster echinophorus is found in shallow water in Florida, the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas, Venezuela, and northern Brazil at depths ranging from 24 to 73 m (79 to 240 ft) and at a sea temperature of about 27 °C (8 °F). It occurs on reefs, rocks, and areas of coral rubble and sometimes among mangroves.
Biology
In Florida, Echinaster echinophorus spawns in late spring and early summer. Two types of egg are produced, some being dark-coloured and planktonic while others are bright orange and immediately sink to the seabed. These soon start to develop into modified brachiolaria larvae, which have larval arms and attach with a sucker.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2687141. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Orange knobby star” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.