Sand Sea Star

This species lives in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean, but the two populations show differences in superomarginal plates. In particular, the specimens of the Mediterranean have superomarginal plates devoid of spines (they are considered by some author as the subspecies Astropecten irregularis pentacanthus) while Atlantic populations are provided with one spine for each superomarginal plates (they are considered by some authors as the subspecies Astropecten irregularis irregularis) or more spines (they are considered by some authors as the subspecies Astropecten irregularis serratus and by some others as a variety of Astropecten irregularis irregularis).

Starfishes of genus Astropecten live on mobile seabed (sandy, muddy or gravel seabed), and they remain largely buried under sediment during the day. During the late afternoon and the night, starfish go out to hunt mainly bivalve molluscs, which are their favourite prey.

Astropecten irregularis is a very common species in all kind of mobile seabed from 1 to about 1,000 m deep.

This species is active and easy to find during the night, and sometimes it is possible to find them in the late afternoon.

This sea star is a carnivore and feeds on molluscs, which it catches with its arms and then takes to the mouth. The prey is then trapped by the long, moving prickles around the mouth cavity.