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Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Scientific name: Pycnopodia helianthoides

Taxonomy: Kingdom Animalia → Phylum Echinodermata → Subphylum Asterozoa → Class Asteroidea → Subclass Ambuloasteroidea → Infraclass Neoasteroidea → Superorder Forcipulatacea → Order Forcipulatida → Family Asteriidae → Subfamily Pycnopodiinae → Genus Pycnopodia

Common name: Sunflower Star
Locations: Eastern Pacific
Group: Marine LifeInvertebratesSea Stars

These vary in color from orange to purple to white. They can get enormous - up to three feet across. In 2013, a wasting disease killed all the big ones. From fall through winter, all I saw were little ones, and now it's rare to see even those. I'm hoping they'll come back soon; we desperately need them to eat the population boom of purple sea urchins that has been eating all the kelp in their absence.

Other images:
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower Star)
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