Wildlife Spotting

I agree with the ID (Marthasterias glacialis) Nice pic! =)

i would say Marthasterias glacialis as well annika.vawter although this color is much more intense, could it be of the photograph or was it really dark redish? i usually see them yellow/orange like this: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/19170209

Hi Claudia! I've been trying to find an ID for this lovely sea star and I think I might have found a match, but I'm not positive. It may be a Spiny Sea Star (Marthasterias glacialis). The geographic range, morphology, and habitat of your star all match this species, but the only issue is that I looked through numerous photos and the color scheme of your star seems unique. Otherwise, it has three vertical rows of spines down each of the five arms, with a central pentagon-shaped set of spines; most other species seem to have irregular, and smaller, spines. Apparently the color can vary by location, but since the color was so different from all other photos of this species I wanted to see if anyone else had thoughts. Beautiful spotting, and great photo! Here are links describing the species: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=123803 http://eol.org/pages/598450/overview (no wikipedia page for this species) Here's a photo of a sea star of this species that looks almost identical to yours, except for the colors: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=image&pic=21272

Beautiful Star-fish!