Basic Overview

Basic Overview-
The starfish that I’m studying fall in the kingdom Animalia, the Phylum Echinodermata and the subclass of Asteriodea. These species are grouped into these seven orders: Brisingida, Forcipulatida, Notomyotida, Paxillosida, Spinulosida, Valvatida and Velatida.. There are roughly 1500 different species in the Asteroidea class. However, to us, they are just simply starfish. They are considered the ‘true starfish’. Basically they are just central disks with five broadly arms connected to it.
Two starfish in which I will go into further detail are the Asterias rubens and the crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci. Both are very different. The Asterias rubens are what most consider the common starfish, and the Acanthaster planci is a very different, unique starfish that most wouldn’t even realize is a starfish.
Asteroids are marine animals that are found in all the oceans. They live in just about any habitat in the ocean; such as tidal pools, rocky shores, sea grass and kelp beds, beneath rock rubble, on coral reefs, sand, and mud. The are seafloor predators. They have certain attributes which allow them to withhold rough conditions. The fact that they can suction allows them to stay stuck in seabeds or close to shore although there are crashing waves.
Mulcrone, R. 2005. "Asteroidea" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed November 02, 2008 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Asteroidea.html.