Echinoderm · sea star

Giant Antarctic sea star

Macroptychaster accrescens

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

From the shore down to 655 m

Size

Up to 26 cm from the center to the tip of an arm, or about 50 cm across

Diet

Antarctic sea stars, sea urchins, sea snails, shellfish, brittle stars

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• It is an example of polar gigantism: it is more than three times the size of the Odontaster sea star.
• It devours Odontaster sea stars and Sterechinus sea urchins, two very common neighbors.
• A New Zealand expedition in the Ross Sea brought up a specimen about 60 cm across.

Verified sources

1. Brueggeman, Underwater Field Guide to Ross Island & McMurdo Sound : étoiles de mer (NSF)
2. NBC News / NIWA : animaux géants découverts dans les eaux antarctiques

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Antarctic sea urchinSterechinus neumayeri Abyssal Antarctic dragonfishBathydraco scotiae Emerald rockcodTrematomus bernacchii Turquet’s octopusPareledone turqueti Antarctic feather starPromachocrinus kerguelensis and related species Antarctic slope shrimpNematocarcinus lanceopes