Chocolate Chip Sea Star

The chocolate chip sea star, also called the horned sea star, is a warm-water Indo-Pacific species found from Thailand to Samoa and Japan to New Caledonia, favoring sandy or muddy bottoms, seagrass beds, and coral sand rather than hard reef. It typically has five arms, though four- and six-armed individuals occur, reaching up to 30 centimeters across, and carries a single row of dark, conical spines across its reddish-brown to tan upper surface that give it its cookie-dough nickname. An opportunistic predator, it preys on sponges, hard corals, snails, and sea urchins, and its spines offer enough protection that it hosts commensal shrimp and brittle stars with little risk from predators.