4

05:30

Astrospartus mediterraneus

The Basket Star (Astrospartus mediterraneus), (Risso,1826) is a echinoderm belongs to the phylum Echinodermata, to the Ophiuroidea class, Gorgonocephalidae family. The Basket Star is characterized by five tentacles, each branched several times, with which it clings to the branches of the soft corals and which are opened at night to feed on. The body has a diameter that can reach 8 centimeters, ...

Fanino Cirivasi

June 6, 2025

113

0

4

19:05

Zero visibility - Basket star - Astrospartus mediterraneus

When we dive at depths greater than 40 meters and far from the coast, about 7.5 nautical miles, it is difficult to make predictions about sea conditions such as currents, presence of fish and marine organisms but above all visibility on the bottom. If weather forecasts are now reliable and safe over 24/48 hours, it is practically impossible to predict what will ...

Andrea Cirivasi

March 1, 2025

26

0

11

13:24

Biodiversity

We are on an isolated patch of rock and coralligenous about 7.5 miles from the coast; the seabed varies from 49 to 52 meters, the area to explore has a surface area of ​​about a couple of basketball courts (about 600 square meters X 2). All around a sea of ​​mud and a mixture of mud/sand separates us from the main submerged reef 400/500 meters away, always on the bathymetric of 50 meters ...

Andrea Cirivasi

January 11, 2025

28

0

5

08:11

Basket star in appointment to reproduce

In many years of scuba diving I have never encountered so many Basket star all at once. Surely there are precise reasons to justify this concentration. The reasons can be various, the most logical ones lead me to think that it is an appointment to reproduce and that in these rocks there are optimal conditions, of currents and plankton, ...

Fanino Cirivasi

June 2, 2024

17

0

15

08:55

Basket Star

La Stella Gorgone, (Astrospartus mediterraneus), (Risso,1826) è un echinoderma della famiglia delle Gorgonocephalidae. Appartiene alla classe Ophiuroidea al phylum Echinodermata. Il nome scientifico deriva da latino aster (stella) e spartos (arbusto). Il nome inglese (basket star) deriva dall'abitudine di raggomitolarsi a cesto ...

Fanino Cirivasi

January 29, 2024

97

0

13

10:35

Red gorgonian reproduction

In this dive of August 15, 2023 we filmed an event that has not yet been documented much in our Mediterranean Sea. This is the reproduction of the red Gorgonian (Paramuricea clavata). Like every year in summer, this beautiful coral reproduces with the synchronized emission of male and female gametes released by the polyps which open by extruding thin semi-transparent filaments ...

Admin

August 20, 2023

147

0

15

18:32

Astrospartus mediterraneus & Paramuricea clavata

In this amazing dive among Paramuricea clavata, red Gorgonian, we met numerous Gorgon starfish, Basket star or Astrospartus mediterraneus. We are on a rocky bottom between 49 and 52 meters deep, where we have encountered various species of fish and marine species such as sponges, ...

netartstudio

March 26, 2023

62

15

03:11

Basket Star

The Basket Star is characterized by five tentacles, each branched several times, with which it clings to the branches of the soft corals and which are opened at night to feed on. The body has a diameter that can reach 8 centimeters, with the complete opening of the tentacles the maximum width of the entire animal can reach 80 centimeters. It feeds passively with the open tentacles, in particular of planktonic microparticles.

Fanino Cirivasi

March 30, 2022

23

0

11

04:35

Basket star Astrospartus mediterraneus

It looks like a seaweed, a coral, a gorgonian but in reality it is a starfish. We are talking about the Basket starfish, Astrospartus mediterraneus. This starfish lives in close contact with the gorgonians, in particular with the Red gorgonian, Paramuricea clavata, with which it shares its habitat and food. Here where we filmed it we are at a depth of 43 meters ...

Andrea Cirivasi

September 27, 2021

25

0

2

01:53

Basket Star

The Basket Star is characterized by five tentacles, each branched several times, with which it clings to the branches of the soft corals and which are opened at night to feed on.

Fanino Cirivasi

March 8, 2020

28

1

05:38

Basket Star - Astrospartus

The Basket Star (Astrospartus mediterraneus Risso, 1826) is an echinoderm of the gorgonocephalidae family.  ...

Fanino Cirivasi

September 16, 2016

158