''Stephanasterias albula'' is a
species of
starfish
Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...
in the
family Asteriidae. It is the only species in its
genus, ''Stephanasterias'', which was described by Verrill in 1871. It has a
circumboreal
The Circumboreal Region in phytogeography is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan.
It is the largest floristic region in t ...
distribution and is found in the north west Atlantic Ocean, the north east Pacific Ocean, the Barents Sea and European waters.
[ It usually has eight arms and is white with a rough upper surface. It has been trawled from depths of 267 metres.
]
Biology
''Stephanasterias albula'' is an omnivore, predator and scavenger.[
Reproduction is by ]fission
Fission, a splitting of something into two or more parts, may refer to:
* Fission (biology), the division of a single entity into two or more parts and the regeneration of those parts into separate entities resembling the original
* Nuclear fissio ...
. A crack develops across the disc and the animal divides into two halves. New arms develop on the injured surfaces. A lack of any juvenile or young specimens found leads to the view that there is no larval recruitment and that this species is one of very few sea star species that reproduces primarily by dividing.
References
Asteriidae
Monotypic echinoderm genera
Asteroidea genera
Taxa named by Addison Emery Verrill
{{Asteroidea-stub