Echinaster luzonicus, (Gray, 1840)
Echinaster luzonicus, the Luzon sea star, is a species of starfish in the family Echinasteridae, found in shallow parts of the western Indo-Pacific region. It sometimes lives symbiotically with a copepod or a comb jelly, and is prone to shed its arms, which then regenerate into new individuals.
Echinaster luzonicus is normally a six-armed starfish but is often rather asymmetrical in appearance because of its habit of shedding arms. It is somewhat variable in colouring, ranging from red to dark brown. Both these colour morphs were collected off Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef, and individuals seemed able to change their colour from red to brown and back again, possibly as a response to the amount of ambient light they received.
Echinaster luzonicus is found in the tropical and sub-tropical western Indo-Pacific region. Its range extending from Madagascar and the east coast of Africa to Northern Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. A common species, it is found on both reef crests and in the intertidal zone.
Echinaster luzonicus feeds on bacterial and algal films that it extracts from the sediment. This species is unique in its genus in that it reproduces asexually by autotomizing its arms; the shed arm then regenerates, growing a new disc and further arms. This species has not been recorded breeding in any other way.
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