Asterias Rubens

Asterias rubens, the common starfish, is the most common and familiar starfish of the northeast Atlantic, in the family Asteriidae. It normally has five arms, broad at the base and tapering to a point, typically measuring 10 to 30 centimeters across though specimens up to 52 centimeters have been recorded, and is usually orange or brick red on its upper surface and paler underneath, though purple or pale brown individuals occur. It lives on rocky and gravelly seabeds from Norway and Sweden through the North Sea, around the coasts of Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, and south along the African coast to Senegal, using rows of small tube feet for locomotion and feeding, tolerating brackish water, and preying on mollusks and other benthic invertebrates.