Common starfish Common starfish The common starfish or common sea star ("Asterias rubens") is the most common and familiar starfish in the north-east Atlantic. Belonging to the family Asteriidae, it has five arms and usually grows to between 10–30 cm across, although larger specimens (up to 52 cm across) are known. The common starfish is usually orange or brown, and sometimes violet; deep-water specimens are pale. The common starfish is to be found on rocky and gravelly substrates where it feeds on molluscs and other benthic invertebrates. The common starfish normally has five arms, broad at their base and gradually tapering to
Common starfish mass strandings have occurred in Britain and elsewhere at such places as Holkham Beach in Norfolk in 2009, near Sandwich in Kent in 2008, and near Brighton ten days later. A similar occurrence occurred on the shore of the White Sea where vast numbers of starfish came ashore on a nine-mile stretch of beach in 2004. It was said that people could not "walk around them because the whole shore was full of starfish". Russian experts expressed mystification as to the cause of the stranding. Common starfish The common starfish or common sea star ("Asterias rubens") is the most common