Variable Bushy Feather Star

The variable bushy feather star often keeps its body concealed in a crevice and the only visible part is its array of arms, especially when it is young. There are in fact five rays attached to the upper part of the body but these subdivide into a number of arms and when one of these is lost, two grow in its place. The arms are flexible, being formed from many jointed calcareous small plates known as ossicles, and can be coiled up. On either side of each arm are short side branches known as pinnules. On the underside of the body are about twenty clawlike appendages known as cirri which are used to cling on to the underlying surface, but they are lost in older specimens, which attach directly using the underarms. The colour is very variable, some specimens being plain golden yellow, pale brown or black and others being multicoloured, often green with bands of orange, white and black on the arms and pinnules.

The variable bushy feather star is found in shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific. Its range includes Indonesia, Fiji and Japan, the Maldives and Papua New Guinea. It is most common on reef crests down to a depth of about 5 metres (16 ft).