Crown-of-thorns starfish substrates with their arms and, when offered a choice of substrates, tend to settle on coralline algae, which they will subsequently feed on. In the classic pattern for echinoderms, the bilaterally symmetrical larva is replaced by a pentamerously symmetrical stage at metamorphosis, with the latter's body axis bearing no relationship to that of the larva. Thus the newly metamorphosed starfish are five-armed and are 0.4–1 mm diameter. (Note the size of the tube feet relative to the size of the animal.) They feed on the thin coating layers of hard encrusting algae (coralline algae) on the undersides of dead coral
Stichaster striatus these were sessile organisms. It was not found to engage in cannibalism of its own species or to feed on other species of starfish. Many individuals were found to have missing or regenerating arms. This is likely the result of attacks by the dominant predatory starfish in the region "Meyenaster gelatinosus" and "Luidia magellanica". Starfish with missing arms are likely to have a certain minimum size; this is because, if they are too small, they are entirely devoured by the predator which attacked them. Juvenile "S. striatus" are found among the holdfasts of the kelp "Lessonia nigrescens" or hiding in