Asterias forbesi Asterias forbesi Asterias forbesi, commonly known as Forbes sea star, is a species of starfish in the family Asteriidae. It is found in shallow waters in the northwest Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. "Asterias forbesi" usually has 5 arms but occasionally has 4 or 6. Like many starfish species, the upper surface is covered in blunt conical projections giving it a rough feel. Some of these are pedicellariae, minute pincers that can grip objects. The arms are plump, broad at the base and tapering to a blunt tip. This starfish grows to about in diameter with an arm length
Asexual reproduction in starfish fission. In Brazil, only male individuals have been found and fission takes place all the year round, though primarily in the winter. Fission seems to be correlated with certain stress factors such as particularly low tides, when many starfish may be exposed to the air. "Nepanthia belcheri" has a variable number of arms and divides by fission in a similar manner. It is a hermaphrodite, some individuals having gonads that function as testes and others gonads that function as ovaries. After fission, the gonads regress and individuals that previously had mature female gonads become masculinized, developing male-type gonads. Many larger