Tuesday August 6, 2024
Science Daily —
Did you know that starfish are not really fish? Despite the name, they are more closely related to spiky sea urchins and squishy sea cucumbers. While they may appear docile and floppy stranded on a sandy beach, they are actually important predators which can have up to 50 arms, span a meter and live for decades.
There are about 2,000 known species of starfish. Now, a collaboration among researchers at the University of Tokyo, Enoshima Aquarium, Marine Science Museum, Fukushima Prefecture and the Yamaguchi Prefectural Fisheries Research Center in Japan has led to the discovery of a new species around the country’s coast.
The new species belongs to a family of starfish called Pseudarchasteridae. Until now, only four species of Pseudarchasteridae,of two genera (biological ranking, between family and species, for classifying animals), had been seen in Japanese waters.