Sea stars

Creator

Preview

Photo Credit

Meredith C. Swartwout, Ph.D. Candidate, Biological Sciences

Object Type

Dried Mount Oceanic Specimen

Date

Spring 2021

Description

Sea stars come in a variety of shapes, sizes and forms. Although commonly called “starfish”, that’s a bit of a misnomer since sea stars are not fish at all, they are invertebrates in the Phylum Echinodermata. Despite their cute appearance, they are voracious predators of shellfish and can move surprisingly fast when on the hunt. One species of sea star, the Crown-of-Thorns, even eats coral.

Object Housed

University of Arkansas Museum

Object Accession Number

2005-3-2, 2005-3-7, 2005-3-10