Bennett's bushy feather star
Anneissia bennetti
Beautiful feather star
Himerometra robustipinna
About
The beautiful feather star is a large feather star, about 35 to 40 cm across, with around 45 long arms, usually red or maroon.
Also known as: himerometra robustipinna, robust feather star
- Length
- 40 cm
- Depth
- up to 57 m
How to tell it apart
Look for a large feather star with many (around 45) long red or maroon arms on hard coral in current.
Appearance
It has 33 to 62 arms, usually about 45, each about 20 cm long. The arms are usually reddish or maroon, or yellow to pale brown with maroon pinnules.
Habitat
It is widespread in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean, from the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea, the Great Barrier Reef, Indonesia, the Philippines and southern Japan. It lives on coral reefs with fairly strong currents, clear water and plenty of plankton, from the surface to 57 m, on hard corals and other hard surfaces.
Behaviour
It clings on with its cirri but can also swim. Shrimps and a lobster are known to live with it.
Diet
It feeds on detritus, phytoplankton and zooplankton, caught on a sticky substance on its arms.
Did you know?
Its larvae drift with the plankton for a few weeks, then settle and grow on a stalk; adults break off the stalk and become free-living.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
