Stelleroidea Echinodermata Animalia Flora and Fauna

The class Stelleroidea or Asteroidea are the starfish, with about 1500 species. They have star-shaped bodies with 5 or more arms attached to a central disc with no obvious joint. They travel with their many tube feet. Most are scavengers or opportunistic predators and some can prise open the tightly closed shells of a clam and digest the contents.

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• Purple Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) - Project by Virginia Humphreys on this starfish, including its description, natural history, evolution and distribution.
  
• Growth of a Starfish - Article on the development of a starfish by Jan Parmentier with many fascinating photographs.
  
• Stelleroidea - Illustration and brief description of these stemless echinoderms that have a central disc from which five or more arms radiate.
  
• Amphioplus thrombodes - Taxonomy and photograph of this brittlestar.
  
• Amphiod pulchella - Taxonomy and photographs of this brittlestar.
  
• Asterias rubens: The Common Starfish - Research project by Michael Richardson on this species, including its classification, habitat, adaptations, nutrition, reproduction and interactions with other species.
  
• Natural Perspective: Starfish (Class: Asteroidea) - Photos and a brief description of starfish characteristics.
  
• Slime Star - A photograph and brief description of the sea star, Pteraster.
  
• Estarias forbesi - Exercise from Invertebrate Anatomy OnLine covering the systematics, external and internal anatomy and development of this sea star.
  
• Chocolate Chip Starfish - Photographic study by Jaclin Pisano of Protoreaster nodosus with some fine images.
  
• Seastars of Antarctica - Photographs and information from the Underwater Field Guide to Ross Island and McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.