Patiria miniata (Brandt, 1835)

Common name(s): Bat star, Sea bat, Webbed star, Broad-disk star
Synonyms:
  Asterina miniata
Phylum Echinodermata
 Class Asteroidea
  Order Valvatida
   Suborder Granulosina
   Family Asterinidae
A small Asterina miniata at Cape Flattery, WA
(Photo by: Dave Cowles, July 2001)
Description:  This star has 5 (varies from 4-9) short rays , webbed between.  The central disk is wider than the rays are long.  There are no conspicuous marginal plates along the edges of the rays.  The gritty aboral surface is covered with flattened, crescent-shaped ossicles with their concave sides oriented toward the center of the disk and arranged in concentric clusters, giving it a sandpaperlike texture. No pedicellariae.  Color of aboral surface highly variable:  orange (picture), red, purplish, brown, dark gray, yellow, or green (usually all one color or mottled).  Diameter to 20 cm.

How to Distinguish from Similar Species: Mediaster aequalis has large marginal plates.  Pteraster tesselatus has an aboral surface lined with soft tissue and secretes copious slime. Dermasterias imbricata has a smooth aboral surface and is reddish-brown with gray or purple.

Geographical Range: Sitka, Alaska to Baja California and Islas de Revillagigedo, Mexico.  Abundant in Central California and Monterey Bay.  Uncommon north of California and in Mexico.  In our area, only a small population exists at Cape Flattery and another one on the west side of Vancouver Island.  In Alaska, only in the extreme low intertidal on the outer coast.

Depth Range: Low intertidal to 290 m.

Habitat: Rocky intertidal, especially near surfgrass, algae, sponges, and bryozoans.

Biology/Natural History: An omnivore and scavenger, feeds mainly on surfgrass.  Diet also includes echinoids, algae, sponges, bryozoans, and colonial tunicates, plus organic films on rocks.  It cannot open clams.  Feeds by everting its stomach, which it may even evert to gather particles from the water.  Most animals which avoid other seastars have little response to this species, except for the nudibranch Dendronotus iris, which may swim away.  Spawn at least from May to July but ripe individuals can be found throughout the year.  Individuals may combat one another if they meet, including pushing, placing a ray over the opponent.  May have several individuals of the commensal polychaete worm Ophiodromus pugettensis living on the oral surface or in the ambulacral grooves.  This species is often used for developmental studies because ripe individuals can be found throughout the year.


 
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References:

Dichotomous Keys:
  Carlton, 2007
  Flora and Fairbanks, 1966
  Kozloff 1987, 1996
  Smith and Carlton, 1975
 

General References:
  Kozloff, 1993
  Morris et al., 1980
  Niesen, 1994

Scientific Articles:

Byrne, Maria, 2006.  Life history diversity and evolution in the Asterinidae.  Integrative and Comparative Biology 46:3 pp 243-254

Sunday, Jennifer, Lisa Raeburn, Heather Stewart, and Michael W. Hart, 2009.  Allelic inheritance in naturally occurring parthenogenetic offspring of the gonochoric sea star Patiria miniata.  Invertebrate Biology 128:3 pp. 276-282
 
 


General Notes and Observations:  Locations, abundances, unusual behaviors:


An orange individual from a San Simeon, CA tidepool.  About 15 cm diameter.  Photo by Dave Cowles, May 1995

At Bodega Marine Lab
These individuals were in the bay at Bodega Marine Lab, California.  Photograph by Dave Cowles, August 2010


Authors and Editors of Page:
Dave Cowles (2005):  Created original page.  Edited 2009