Echinoderm · brittle star

Basket star

Gorgonocephalus arcticus

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic Found in 2 oceans

Depth

From 5 m to nearly 2,000 m

Size

Disc 6 to 7 cm, up to 40 cm across including the arms

Diet

Zooplankton and small drifting animals

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• Its 5 arms divide again and again into fine branches, like roots.
• It holds its arms out in the current to catch plankton, then coils them around its prey.
• Tiny hooks on its arms hold on to prey.
• It often settles on other attached animals, such as sea squirts.

Verified sources

1. SeaLifeBase : Gorgonocephalus arcticus
2. Wikipedia (citant Emson 1991, Can. J. Zool. et Hamel & Mercier 2020)

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Glacial eelpoutLycodes frigidus Northern shrimpPandalus borealis Arctic giant spongeGeodia hentscheli Giant Antarctic isopodGlyptonotus antarcticus Volcano spongeAnoxycalyx joubini Southern Ocean yeti crabKiwa tyleri