Ochre sea star

Pisaster ochraceus · A sturdy sea star of rocky shores along the Pacific coast of North America.

Also called Purple sea star, Ochre starfish.

Ochre sea star
Photo: D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0
Ochre sea star
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0
Ochre sea star
Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumEchinodermata
ClassAsteroidea
OrderForcipulatida
FamilyAsteriidae
GenusPisaster
SpeciesPisaster ochraceus

Where it lives

Rocky shores and tide pools from Alaska to Baja California.

Fun facts

  • The ochre sea star has no brain, only a simple nervous system with a nerve ring that links its radial nerves.
  • To eat a mussel, it can push its stomach out through its mouth and slip it into the shell through a tiny gap.
  • One ochre sea star is thought to be able to eat eighty California mussels in a single year.
  • This sea star can live as long as twenty years, much longer than the four years many sea stars manage.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).