Culcita novaeguineae

Culcita Kookaburra semi adult,

The Great cushion star ( Culcita Kookaburra ), also Eastern Cushion Sea or Guinea - cushion star called, is a tall, 30 inches in diameter -reach starfish. He lives in the eastern Indian Ocean and the Pacific, from the Bay of Bengal to Hawaii.

Features

With the large cushion star, the extremely short arms and body are fused into a pentagon, for adult forms of the body is rounded and acts like a cushion inflated. Young animals are even more star-shaped and the arms are still clearly visible. The animals have a highly variable coloration and can be brown, green, red, black or gray. On the top pore -rich zones appear as spots. Large Cushion stars can easily with the sting - cushion star ( Culcita schmid eliana ) be mistaken, whose skin is a bit prickly and has a circulation area located to the west of East Africa to Western Australia.

Way of life

Large cushion star live on coral reefs in shallow water in 5 to 30 meters deep. They feed on hard corals of the genera Acropora polyps preferred and Pocillopora, but also on detritus, various microorganisms and other sessile invertebrates. You are probably dioecious, asexual reproduction has not been observed. Large Cushion stars are sometimes hosts of commensal Partnergarnele Periclimenes soror.