Echinoderms - SEA-STARS & SEA-URCHINS

Tosia   labelled wrongly is the same genus but this one is not  biscuit sea star (very similar)

Biscuit Seastar.

The Eight-armed sea-star is very common all around Victoria's coast. There is a great deal of variation in colour. One rock pool can have a number of different colour variations in it. The next few pics shows some of the variations.

This picture and the two below show something very unusual in the world of sea-urchins. This Victorian urchin exhibits parental care. Look closely at this top photo and you can see two juvenile urchins safely lodged in the arms of the parent. The tiny urchins develop on their mothers shell between the spines. While the parent carries these young it apparantly supplies nutriment to the young from its outer shell. The next photos show the underside ( the mouth of the urchin is in the middle where the there are no visible spines). Most of the young (there were about 10 - 12) were situated here.

This urchin is one found in deepeer water. It is not likely to be in a rockpool or washed up on the beach.