Mediterranean Red Sea Star

The Mediterranean Red Sea Star (Echinaster sepositus) is a species of starfish from the East Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea. It is found at depths of 1 to 250 m (3–820 ft) in a wide range of habitats, including rocky, sandy, and muddy bottoms, and seagrass meadows (Posidonia oceanica and Zostera). The fertilization of these starfish is totally external. Their sexes are separated, although there are also hermaphroditic specimens, this is not very common. They tend to reproduce during autumn. The males tend to have an upright posture when they throw their sperm through the water and that’s when fertilization begins.

It comprises a small central disc and five somewhat thin limbs. It typically measures up to 20 cm in diameter, but it occasionally grows as large as 30 cm. Its surface texture is soapy, in contrast to the superficially similar Henricia starfish, and it is a vivid orange-red color (another somewhat similar species from the same region is Ophidiaster ophidianus). The animal may stretch its deep red gills from the surface's equally placed pits (papula).