In nature, starfish come in countless shapes, sizes, and colors, and are found from shorelines to deep waters. Few people would expect that starfish – these beautiful creatures that transform magically and colorfully at the bottom of the ocean, are extremely greedy carnivores.

Dermasterias imbricata (Dermasterias imbricata)

Found along the west coast of North America, from Alaska to Mexico, the leatherback star lives in waters about 300 feet deep, where it eats everything from sponge algae to sea cucumbers. The da star’s most formidable enemy is the sun star.

Sunstar (Solaster Dawsoni)

This is a type of evil star. It has 8 – 16 brightly colored arms, usually red or orange. It is found in the northern Pacific, from Japan to Siberia and down the North American coast to California. Sun stars have a defense mechanism – they possess toxic mucus. 50% of the sun star’s diet is skin star.

Sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides)

The sunflower star is the world’s largest sea star, reaching armspan of 3.3 feet. They are found along the North American coast, from Alaska to California, but they are largest in the northern regions. Their main food is sea urchins, oysters, and snails.

Pink star (Pisaster brevispinus)

True to its name, this starfish is pink, can reach giant sizes in diameter and can weigh up to 2f. Its main food is clams so they are often found on sand or mud. Its soft texture allows it to also attach to corals and rocks where it can live on the bodies of clams, tube worms and barnacles.

Sand star (Choriaster granulatus)

This species is found in shallow waters on coral reefs and rubble piles where they have abundant food sources such as algae, coral, and dead animals.

Royal star sea star (Atropecten articulatus)

This star species is royal blue in color and is found along the east coast of North America, mainly in the southeast. While it can live at depths of up to 700 feet, its primary diet is molluscs. Unlike many other species of starfish, the royal starfish eats its own species.

Bat sea star (asterina miniata)

This species is also known as the star bat because the webbing between its arms looks like bat wings. It is found along the west coast of North America, from Alaska to Baja. While the species usually has five arms, it can have up to nine arms, and a wide variety of colors from blue to orange to purple.

Thorn star (Acanthaster planci)

The name of this species is quite obvious. Their entire body is covered with spines covering the surface. These sharp spines are venomous. They are found in tropical waters, from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific to the west coast of Central America. This star’s food is coral. This is one of the largest and most voracious starfish in the world.

Bat sea star

The shape of this starfish’s wing is very similar to a bat’s wing. Starfish species usually have 5 wings, but this one can have up to 9 wings and has many diverse colors. Popular colors are red, green, purple.

Ocean blood star

The name of this species comes from its characteristic red-orange color. It lives along the Pacific coast of North America. There are some that live at a depth of about 300 m. Humans and seabirds are considered their “enemies”.

Chocolate chip starfish

The knobs on this starfish’s body look like chocolate chips. However, that is what these starfish use to scare off other predators such as shrimp, fish… According to Treehugger, this species is overexploited for use as tourist and trade jewelry. Therefore, humans are the biggest threat to them.