''Heliaster cumingi'' is a species of

starfish Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...

in the family

Heliasteridae The Heliasteridae are a family of Asteroidea (sea stars) in the order Forcipulatida. It includes two genera: ''Heliaster'' from the East Pacific (California to Chile, including offshore islands), and ''Labidiaster'' from southernmost South Americ ...

. The species can be found in the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

as well as off the coast of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

References

Heliasteridae Starfish described in 1840 {{asteroidea-stub