Asteroidea

Starfish or sea stars are a class of echinoderms generally shaped like a star polygon. Starfish are also known as asteroids because they form the taxonomic class Asteroidea. About 1,900 species of starfish live on the seabed, and are found in all the world's oceans, from warm, tropical zones to frigid, polar regions. They can occur from the intertidal zone down to abyssal depths, at 6,000 m (20,000 ft) below the surface.

Asteroidea

Top left: Klaus Rassinger (Museum Wiesbaden) Top right: Katie Ahlfeld Bottom right: Jon Zander (Digon3) Bottom left:… · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
sea starPBDB
Sits inside
AsterozoaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
low-level epifaunalPBDB
Motility
slow-movingPBDB
Vision
limitedPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB, for Echinodermata

Time the record covers

At least 475 million years on record.

The record covers at least 475.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 481.7 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Cambrian — about 0 of 1329 occurrencesOrdovician — about 151 of 1329 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 43 of 1329 occurrencesDevonian — about 43 of 1329 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 44 of 1329 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 14 of 1329 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 1329 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 26 of 1329 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 7 of 1329 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 23 of 1329 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 85 of 1329 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 70 of 1329 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 87 of 1329 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 556 of 1329 occurrencesPaleocene — about 29 of 1329 occurrencesEocene — about 90 of 1329 occurrencesOligocene — about 16 of 1329 occurrencesMiocene — about 26 of 1329 occurrencesPliocene — about 12 of 1329 occurrencesPleistocene — about 7 of 1329 occurrences491–475 Mya — about 1 occurrence475–459 Mya — about 20 occurrences459–442 Mya — about 131 occurrences442–426 Mya — about 35 occurrences426–409 Mya — about 12 occurrences409–393 Mya — about 21 occurrences393–377 Mya — about 12 occurrences377–360 Mya — about 5 occurrences360–344 Mya — about 11 occurrences344–328 Mya — about 10 occurrences328–311 Mya — about 8 occurrences311–295 Mya — about 17 occurrences295–278 Mya — about 9 occurrences278–262 Mya — about 4 occurrences262–246 Mya — about 2 occurrences246–229 Mya — about 29 occurrences229–213 Mya — about 2 occurrences213–197 Mya — about 9 occurrences197–180 Mya — about 14 occurrences180–164 Mya — about 71 occurrences164–147 Mya — about 76 occurrences147–131 Mya — about 19 occurrences131–115 Mya — about 37 occurrences115–98 Mya — about 91 occurrences98–82 Mya — about 296 occurrences82–66 Mya — about 211 occurrences66–49 Mya — about 57 occurrences49–33 Mya — about 61 occurrences33–16 Mya — about 25 occurrences16–0 Mya — about 34 occurrences475.3 Mya129 ka491 Mya0 Mya

1,329 occurrences of Asteroidea on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,329 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

282 formations

Gulpen — 50.73°N, 5.67°EGulpen — 50.75°N, 5.67°ELa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.67°WLa Meseta — 64.26°S, 56.68°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.65°WLa Meseta — 64.25°S, 56.62°WMaastricht — 50.85°N, 5.70°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 5.77°EMaastricht — 50.85°N, 6.77°EMaastricht — 50.86°N, 5.79°EPawpaw — 32.73°N, 97.32°WPawpaw — 32.95°N, 97.32°WPawpaw — 32.84°N, 97.29°WPawpaw — 32.63°N, 97.40°WWhite Chalk — 54.52°N, 13.63°EHunsrück Slate — 49.89°N, 7.47°EHunsrück Slate — 49.83°N, 7.37°EMarnes de Foncouverte — 43.15°N, 2.50°EMarnes de Foncouverte — 43.15°N, 2.57°EMarnes de Foncouverte — 43.17°N, 2.70°EWewoka — 35.04°N, 96.36°WWilmington Sands — 50.80°N, 0.18°ESables de Montormel — 48.97°N, 0.05°WBilá — 49.98°N, 15.60°EMaastricht — 50.80°N, 5.67°EPierre Blanche de Langrune — 49.30°N, 0.35°WBromide — 34.00°N, 97.00°WBromide — 34.45°N, 97.17°WBromide — 34.07°N, 97.17°WBromide — 34.03°N, 97.17°WPeruc-Korycany — 50.23°N, 14.43°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.13°N, 14.28°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.06°N, 15.10°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.83°N, 15.25°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.95°N, 15.47°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.98°N, 15.60°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.97°N, 15.65°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.24°N, 14.48°EPeruc-Korycany — 49.78°N, 14.08°EPeruc-Korycany — 50.08°N, 15.03°ELa Tonnelle — 46.85°N, 1.88°WHolywell Nodular Chalk — 51.25°N, 0.15°WFairview — 39.00°N, 84.00°WFairview — 39.02°N, 84.15°WWaynesville — 39.00°N, 84.00°WLiberty — 39.00°N, 84.00°WDyer — 39.77°N, 107.35°WArnheim — 39.00°N, 84.00°WSantee Limestone — 33.45°N, 80.16°WSantee Limestone — 33.51°N, 80.49°WSantee Limestone — 33.33°N, 80.15°WSantee Limestone — 33.41°N, 80.10°WSantee Limestone — 33.33°N, 79.69°WDunleith — 42.00°N, 90.50°W

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The named rock units Asteroidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 258 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 461 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Asteroidea and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Asteroidea and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

3,214 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 653 sites for Asteroidea, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

283 references

Each of the 1,329 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 271 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Asteroidea

Credit
Top left: Klaus Rassinger (Museum Wiesbaden) Top right: Katie Ahlfeld Bottom right: Jon Zander (Digon3) Bottom left:…
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAsterozoa through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (de Blainville 1830)