Spiny Starfish Marthasterias glacialis

Spiny Starfish
Spiny Starfish
Spiny Starfish
The Spiny Starfish is native to the eastern Atlantic from Iceland to southern Africa, including the North Sea and the Mediterranean. It is the only species in its genus.
Spiny Starfish One Spiny Starfish.
Spiny Starfish Two Spiny Starfish.
Spiny Starfish Three Spiny Starfish.
It has five arms and a top surface covered in small pale spikes. A large starfish, it can reach 70cm (over 2 feet) across but is usually just half that.
Spiny Starfish
Spiny Starfish
Spiny Starfish
Diet is mainly bivalve molluscs, mainly mussels and small clams, but also scavenged crab and fish.
(It can sometimes be confused with the spiny but much smaller Northern Starfish, Leptasterias muelleri, of the northern Atlantic.)