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Red Cushion Star
Porania pulvillus
Porania pulvillus, also called the red cushion star or red cushion starfish, is a species of sea star in the family Poraniidae. The specific name pulvillus means "little cushion."
From the article Porania pulvillus on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Porania pulvillus is up to 12 cm (4.7 in) in diameter. The aboral surface (top) is usually bright red but may be purple, orange or yellow. It has white/yellowish spots and bands that radiate from the centre, and smooth greasy skin. The madreporite is in the centre. P. pulvillus has translucent soft papillae that act as gills. The oral surface (underside) is pale. This sea star has five short, broad arms. Each arm has two rows of small ossicles on either side. It has no pedicellariae.
Range & habitat
It is widely distributed in the northern Atlantic Ocean, including the waters off Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, New England and Newfoundland.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
What it does
Porania pulvillus produces brachiolaria larvae in spring. It is gonochoristic. It feeds on detritus and the soft coral Alcyonium digitatum.
Wikipedia: “Behaviour”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Porania pulvillus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 255880.