Sunflower Star, Pycnopodia helianthoides

Sunflower Star, Pycnopodia helianthoides. Pictured stars wingspan: 15 cm (5.9 inches).

The Sunflower Star, Pycnopodia helianthoides (Brandt, 1835), is a member of the Asteriidae Family of Starfish, also known as the Many-legged Star and the Twenty-ray Star and in Mexico as estrella girasol. It is the only global member of the Pycnopodia Genus.

The Sunflower Star has a wide disc and up to 25 fairly limp and flaccid arms. Their aboral surface is covered with numerous pedicellariae and short spines and they have a row of slightly longer spines along the margins of the arms and they may have more than 15,000 tube feet. They may be brown, orange, purple, pink, red, purple in color with white spines and varies significantly based on diet. The Sunflower Star is the largest member of its family and reaches 1.0 m (3 feet 3 inches) in diameter.

The Sunflower Star is found on and within mud, rock and sand substrate. They are found from the low intertidal zone to depths of up to 435 m (1,425 feet). They feed on a wide variety of echinoderms and mollusks. They are considered to be one of the fastest moving stars “clocked” at up to 2.1 m (6 feet 9 inches) per minute. When their larvae settle out they only have 5 arms, quickly add a sixth arm, and then add future arms in pairs, on either side of the sixth arm.

The Sunflower is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean, however they have a limited distribution from Isla Todos Santos (Ensenada), Baja California, northward along the northwest coasts of Baja.

A synonym is Asterias helianthoides.