Ophioderma longicauda

Among the many starfish that inhabit the Mediterranean Sea we find the funny Ofiure known  Brittle Starfish, Serpent starfish or Ophiuroid, (Ophioderma longicauda). They belong to the phylum Echinodermata, class Ophiuroidea, to the family Ophiodermatidae. The Brittle starfish is present throughout the Mediterranean Sea and generally lives hidden in the crevices of the cliffs or sheltered under rocks or debris present in the sea.

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, ...

Black feather starfish

Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea, one of the classes of the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes the starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Those crinoids which, in their adult form, are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, ...

Horned Sea Star

Horned Sea Star, Protoreaster nodosus, commonly known as chocolate chip sea star, is a species of sea star found in the warm, shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific region. They are sometimes seen in the marine aquarium trade or dried and sold as curios. Protoreaster nodosus possess rows of spines or "horns"; black conical points arranged in a single row, radially on the dorsal side ...

Graeffe's sea cucumber

Graeffe's sea cucumber, Pearsonothuria graeffei , is a sea cucumbers in the family Holothuridae; it is the only species in the genus. Graeffe's sea cucumber is found in the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean.  Is a roughly cylindrical, thin-walled sea cucumber that grows to about 30 centimetres in length. Its mouth, at one end, is surrounded by a ring of up to 24 leaf-like, paddle-shaped tentacles ...

Blue Sea Star Linckia laevigata

Blue Sea Star, Linckia laevigata, (sometimes called the "blue Linckia" or blue star) is a species of sea star in the shallow waters of tropical Indo-Pacific. The variation ("polymorphism", in this case, a "color morph") most commonly found is pure blue, dark blue, or light blue, although observers find the aqua, purple, or orange variation throughout the ocean ...

Brown Mesh Sea Star

The Brown Mesh Sea Star, Nardoa galatheae, is a genus of sea stars in the family Ophidiasteridae. The Ophidiasteridae are a family of sea stars with about 30 genera. Occurring both in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, ophidiasterids are greatest in diversity in the Indo-Pacific. Many of the genera in this family exhibit brilliant colors and patterns ...

Cushion sea star Culcita schmideliana

Cushion sea star, Culcita schmideliana, commonly known as the spiny cushion star, is a species of pin-cushion star which looks more like a hedgehog without its spines than the starfish we generally know. It has a variety of base colors and often patches of a different color. It is pentagonal in shape ...

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, ...

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 ...

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.

Invasion of Stylocidaris affinis

I did the underwater video in a stretch of sea between Livorno and the island of Gorgona at a depth of over 50 meters. I was surprised to meet so many sea urchins, known as Stylocidaris affinis, concentrated in a short stretch of cliff. Frankly, I wondered why so many sea urchins had colonized those rocks?

Funny brittle Starfish

The Brittle starfish: Ophiodermatidae is present throughout the Mediterranean Sea and generally lives hidden in the crevices of the cliffs or sheltered under rocks or debris present in the sea.

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.