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October 12, 2020: Basket Star

During a Windows to the Deep 2018 dive at a site located off the coast of Georgia named Blake Escarpment South, the team observed this basket star attached to a bamboo coral. These sea stars are suspension feeders — unfurling their arms to grab prey from the water column. By attaching to the coral, this basket star has lifted itself off the seafloor and higher in the water column, making for better “hunting.”

Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Windows to the Deep 2018. Download larger version (jpg, 1.1 MB).

During a Windows to the Deep 2018 dive at a site located off the coast of Georgia named Blake Escarpment South, the team observed this basket star attached to a bamboo coral. These sea stars are suspension feeders — unfurling their arms to grab prey from the water column. By attaching to the coral, this basket star has lifted itself off the seafloor and higher in the water column, making for better “hunting.”

Check out this video, “Tangled, Tangled Little Star,” of a similar basket star seen during a 2018 dive off Puerto Rico.