Orange sea star on dark ocean floor with white metal frame in front.
Hippasteria
Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2025 Beyond the Blue. Download larger version (jpg, 1.24 MB).
Sea stars are known predators of corals and during the fourth dive of the Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping expedition, we observed this sea star in the genus Hippasteria inverting its stomach to chow down on a bamboo coral at 1,498 meters (4,915 feet) depth.