Crown-of-thorns starfish occurs where coral reefs or hard coral communities occur in this region. The body form of the crown-of-thorns starfish is fundamentally the same as that of a typical starfish, with a central disk and radiating arms. Its special traits, however, include being disc-shaped, multiple-armed, flexible, prehensile, and heavily spined, and having a large ratio of stomach surface to body mass. Its prehensile ability arises from the two rows of numerous tube feet that extend to the tip of each arm. In being multiple-armed, it has lost the five-fold symmetry (pentamerism) typical of starfish, although it begins its life cycle with
Starfish trick he beat Starfish ragged, which is how Starfish still is today. In 1900, the scholar Edward Tregear documented "The Creation Song", which he describes as "an ancient prayer for the dedication of a high chief" of Hawaii. Among the "uncreated gods" described early in the song are the male Kumilipo ("Creation") and the female Poele, both born in the night, a coral insect, the earthworm, and the starfish. Georg Eberhard Rumpf's 1705 "The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet" describes the tropical varieties of "Stella Marina" or "Bintang Laut", "Sea Star", in Latin and Malay respectively, known in the waters around Ambon.