The Nature LibraryEN·ES
iNat·47673SpeciesAnimalia5,061 field observations
  1. Animals
  2. ›Echinoderms
  3. ›Sea Stars and Brittle Stars
  4. ›Sea Stars
  5. ›Forcipulatacean Sea Stars
  6. ›Forcipulatidan Sea Stars
  7. ›Asteriid Sea Stars
  8. ›Pycnopodiinae
  9. ›Pycnopodia
Sunflower Sea Star
Plate 1 of 10. (c) Marco Mazza, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Marco Mazza · via iNaturalist
IUCN CR · Critically endangered

Sunflower Sea Star

Pycnopodia helianthoides

Pycnopodia helianthoides, commonly known as the sunflower sea star, is a large sea star found in the northeast Pacific. It is among the largest sea stars in the world (but not quite the largest), with a maximum arm span of 1 m (3.3 ft). Sunflower sea stars usually have 16 to 24 limbs; their color can vary widely. They are predatory, feeding mostly on sea urchins, clams, snails, and other small invertebrates.

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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Every page naming Pycnopodia helianthoides in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 47673.