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Astropecten scoparius
Astropecten scoparius is a sea star in the family Astropectinidae. It is found in shallow water in the East China Sea and around the coasts of Japan. It is a grey starfish and each of its five arms has a narrow pale margin. It burrows in the muddy sediments on the seabed and feeds on molluscs.
From the article Astropecten scoparius on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Range & habitat
Astropecten scoparius occurs in the East China Sea and around the islands of Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
Toxicity
In some circumstances, Astropecten scoparius contains the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, also known as TTX. This starfish accumulates lesser quantities of the toxin than does its close relative Astropecten polyacanthus. Both have been associated with cases of paralytic shellfish poisoning of humans in Japan caused by consumption of the trumpet shell Charonia lampas. It is believed that the toxin is passed through the food chain, the trumpet shell having acquired it through feeding on the starfish. The starfish may themselves have incorporated TTX into their tissues through feeding on certain tiny gastropod molluscs Umborium suturale.
== References ==
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 Astropecten scoparius 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 349895.