•+Pycnopodia+helianthoides

** Scientific Classification **  Kingdom: Animalia   Phylum: Echinodermata   Class: Asteroidea   Order: Forcipulatida   Family: Asteriidae   Genus: Pycnopodia   Species: P. helianthoides

** Physical Description ** -Largest and fastest of the sea stars -Moves with its 15,000 suction cups -Most start their life with five arms and can grow up to twenty-four arms -Unlike other sea stars, it has skeleton of disconnected pieces -Allows sea star’s mouth to open wide and its body to enlarge and take in big prey -Can swallow an entire sea urchin, digest it internally, and then expel the urchin’s intestine -Does not posses a brain or a heart -The organs at the tip of each ray allows these organisms to smell and sense between light and dark -Colors vary: reddish-orange to yellow, violet brown, purplish or slatey purple

** Distribution/Habitat ** -Often inhabit areas of approximately 120 m in depth, and do not travel further than 435 m in depth -Lives in temperate regions -Found on various substrates such as mud, sand, gravel, boulders, and rock

** Life Cycle/Reproduction ** -Live 3-5 years and breed between March and July -Exhibit external fertilization and polygyny

** Ecological Role ** -Feeds on organisms such as sea urchins, sand dollars, bivalves, sea cucumbers, mussels, crabs, barnacles, clams, gastropods, and rarely algae, and sponges, and occasionally dead fish -Its prey uses various ways to escape: -Snails violently twist their shells to loosen the star’s powerful grip -California sea cucumbers slither out of the way. -Purples sea urchins nibble on the sea star’s feet. -If predators attack the sunflower sea star, it can expel its arm, sending a chemical that causes an alarm response to other sunflower sea stars in the area

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**Sources**   [] [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALaMoS_vvNE] [|http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Sunflower_starfish] [|http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/12/cf/fa/sunflower-sea-star.jpg] [|http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3395/3199407440_99fdbcb490.jpg] [|http://www.billabbie.com/calath/images/starfish_sunflower_patiria_helianthoides_robertpotts_0059.jpg]