Coscinasterias tenuispina has from 6 to 12 arms (usually 7), often of varying lengths, and grows to 20cm (8in) in diameter. It is a creamy, slightly bluish colour, variously blotched with brown, and is rough textured with short spines.
Coscinasterias tenuispina is a predator and an omnivore. The starfish is found on hard bottoms and under stones and seaweed where it mainly feeds on other echinoderms and on bivalve molluscs. In most of its range, it undergoes sexual reproduction in the winter, while in the summer, it proliferates by asexual reproduction. To begin the process of asexual reproduction, or "fission", the disc tears itself into two sections, with each part eventually growing extra arms and developing into a new individual. In Brazil, all individuals seem to be male and fission occurs throughout the year.
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Underwater photos at Akrotiri 9/04/16 by Kostas Aristeidou
Photos Xylophagou,, by Costas Constantinou
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