Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Linckia lae­vi­gata in­hab­its the trop­i­cal wa­ters of the In­dian and Pa­cific Oceans, from the west­ern In­dian Ocean to south­east­ern Poly­ne­sia. (Kochz­ius, et al., 2009; Magsino, et al., 2000; Ya­m­aguchi, 1977)

• Biogeographic Regions
• oriental
• australian
• indian ocean
• pacific ocean

Habi­tat

In­di­vid­u­als have been ob­served in shal­low, mul­ti­leveled areas in upper zones of sunny reefs and reef fringes in water tem­per­a­tures from 22 to 26 de­grees de­grees Cel­sius. The blue sea star is ex­tremely sen­si­tive to changes in tem­per­a­ture, oxy­gen level, and pH. (Kochz­ius, et al., 2009; Magsino, et al., 2000; Ya­m­aguchi, 1977)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• saltwater or marine

• Aquatic Biomes
• reef

• Range elevation

  N/A (high) m

  ft

• Range depth

  60 to <1 m

  196.85 to ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Linckia lae­vi­gata is char­ac­ter­ized by five cylin­dri­cal arms with a bright blue or light blue body color and yel­low tube feet. Green, pink, and yel­low col­ors have also been ob­served. In­di­vid­u­als can grow up to 30 to 40 cen­time­ters across. These an­i­mals get their color from a blue pig­ment called linck­i­a­cyanin and some ac­ces­sory yel­low carotenoids. The starfish col­ors vary, de­pend­ing on the exact ratio and com­bi­na­tion of pig­ments in each in­di­vid­ual. (Kochz­ius, et al., 2009; Magsino, et al., 2000; Williams and Ben­zie, 1993; Ya­m­aguchi, 1977)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• radial symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range mass

  11 to 16 g

  0.39 to 0.56 oz

• Range length

  30 (high) cm

  11.81 (high) in

De­vel­op­ment

Fer­til­ized Linckia lae­vi­gata eggs be­come lar­vae after a cou­ple of days. The lar­vae spend about 28-30 days in the water col­umn be­fore set­tling onto a hard sur­face on the reef and meta­mor­phos­ing into a tiny ver­sion of the adult star. The ju­ve­nile-to-adult trans­for­ma­tion is es­ti­mated to take place at about 2 years of age. At this point, they are con­sid­ered “mini adults” and con­tinue to grow until reach­ing a length of about 30 cen­time­ters. (Magsino, et al., 2000)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis

Re­pro­duc­tion

Though the sexes ap­pear in­dis­tin­guish­able when ob­serv­ing this an­i­mal ex­ter­nally, the dif­fer­ences can be de­ter­mined by ob­serv­ing the go­nads or by ex­am­in­ing the act of spawn­ing when the male and fe­male can be dis­tin­guished more read­ily. Dur­ing the mat­ing process, ga­metes are re­leased freely into the water above the an­i­mals. Seast­ars gather in groups when they are pre­pared to mate to in­crease the prob­a­bil­ity of fer­til­iza­tion. If a male and fe­male re­lease ga­metes in close prox­im­ity, the eggs are fer­til­ized. Mat­ing gen­er­ally oc­curs in the sum­mer. (Ya­m­aguchi, 1977)

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Linckia lae­vi­gata spawns be­tween May and Au­gust. This species may have a very low level of re­cruit­ment. One in­ten­sive study found only 10 off­spring in one year class. Blue starfish also un­dergo asex­ual re­pro­duc­tion, which is the pre­dom­i­nant form of re­pro­duc­tion in cap­tiv­ity. Dur­ing asex­ual re­pro­duc­tion, the blue starfish di­vide through their disc, pro­duc­ing clones with iden­ti­cal ge­netic makeup. (Magsino, et al., 2000; Ya­m­aguchi, 1977)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• sexual
• asexual
• fertilization
  • external
• broadcast (group) spawning

• Breeding interval

  The blue sea star usually spawns once a year.

• Breeding season

  The blue sea star usually spawns from May to August.

• Range gestation period

  28 to 30 days

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2 (high) years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  2 (high) years

No parental in­vest­ment is pro­vided after ga­metes are re­leased. (Williams and Ben­zie, 1993)

• Parental Investment
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning

Lifes­pan/Longevity

The blue seastar is known to live as long as 10 years in the wild. The mor­tal­ity rate is high in cap­tiv­ity be­cause this species re­quires pre­cise con­di­tions and at­ten­tion to ac­cli­ma­tion. (Magsino, et al., 2000; Williams and Ben­zie, 1993; Ya­m­aguchi, 1977)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  10 (high) years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  10 (high) years

Be­hav­ior

Linckia lae­vi­gata is a mo­bile and soli­tary species, often found an­chored to rocks. This species is also noc­tur­nal and can be found hid­ing in rocks dur­ing the day. (Reef Re­al­ity Se­ries, 2010)

• Key Behaviors
• nocturnal
• motile
• solitary

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Seast­ars lack a brain and also do not pos­sess well-de­fined sen­sory net­work. How­ever, they are sen­si­tive to touch, light, the water that sur­rounds them, and ori­en­ta­tion. The pedi­cel­lar­iae of the sea star aid in touch sen­sa­tion as they func­tion to free the or­gan­ism of any sed­i­ments. The tube feet func­tion as chemore­cep­tors and are used by the sea star to lo­cate food. ("Blue Starfish", 2009; Deep Sea Wa­ters, 2011)

• Communication Channels
• tactile
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Linckia lae­vi­gata, like other seast­ars, are op­por­tunis­tic preda­tors and scav­engers. They in­vert their stom­achs and begin to di­gest their food ex­ter­nally. Food items in­clude dead an­i­mals, small in­ver­te­brates, and de­tri­tus. (Deep Sea Wa­ters, 2011; Reef Re­al­ity Se­ries, 2010)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • eats other marine invertebrates
  • scavenger
• omnivore
• detritivore

• Animal Foods
• aquatic or marine worms
• other marine invertebrates

• Plant Foods
• algae

• Other Foods
• detritus

Pre­da­tion

The blue col­or­ing of L. lae­vi­gata may warn po­ten­tial preda­tors of tox­i­c­ity. Like other seast­ars, the blue seastar can use au­ton­omy, or self-sev­er­ance of a limb, to es­cape pre­da­tion. Body parts lost to preda­tors are re­gen­er­ated. (Reef Re­al­ity Se­ries, 2010; Ride­out, 1975)

• Known Predators

  • Pufferfishes
  • Triton shells, Charonia spp.
  • Harlequin shrimp, Hymenocera spp.
  • Sea anemones
  • Damselfish, Dascyllusaruanus spp.

Ecosys­tem Roles

The blue sea star is mainly a scav­enger, break­ing down tis­sues of dead an­i­mals. Linckia lae­vi­gata is an ob­lig­ate host for the limpet Thyca crys­tal­lina, which feeds on the he­molymph of the sea star. The shrimp Per­i­climenes soror, is also par­a­sitic on L. lae­vi­gata. (Cran­dall, et al., 2008)

• Ecosystem Impact
• biodegradation

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Blue sea stars are used for dec­o­ra­tion and for per­sonal aes­thet­ics (per­sonal aquar­i­ums and dec­o­ra­tions when they are dried out). They are pop­u­lar among tourists and in the aquatic life in­dus­try. The blue seastar is also being tested as an in­ex­pen­sive source of po­ten­tial anti-tu­mor and an­tibac­te­r­ial agents. ("Blue Starfish", 2009; Mo­jica, et al., 2003)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• source of medicine or drug

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of L. lae­vi­gata on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

This species is not listed under any con­ser­va­tion pro­grams. (Reef Re­al­ity Se­ries, 2010)

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Michelle Bap­tiste (au­thor), Rut­gers Uni­ver­sity, Ivan Jaki­movski (au­thor), Rut­gers Uni­ver­sity, David V. Howe (ed­i­tor), Rut­gers Uni­ver­sity, Renee Mul­crone (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

Ref­er­ences

2009. "Blue Starfish" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 14, 2010 at http://​www.​waza.​org/​en/​zoo/​choose-a-species/​invertebrates/​star-fishes-sea-urchins-and-relatives-echinodermata/​linckia-laevigata.

Cran­dall, E., E. Jones, M. Muñoz, B. Ak­in­ronbi, M. Erd­mann. 2008. Com­par­a­tive phy­lo­geog­ra­phy of two seast­ars and their ec­tosym­bionts within the Coral Tri­an­gle. Mol­e­c­u­lar Ecol­ogy, 17: 5276–5290.

Deep Sea Wa­ters, 2011. "Blue Sea Star" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 01, 2011 at http://​www.​deepseawaters.​com/​deep_​sea_​blue-sea-star.​htm.

Fos­ter, R., M. Smith. 1997. "Linckia Sea Star, Blue (Linckia lae­vi­gata)" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 01, 2011 at http://​www.​liveaquaria.​com/​product/​prod_​display.​cfm?​c=497+528+568&​pcatid=568.

Kochz­ius, M., C. Sei­del, J. Hauschild, S. Kirch­hoff, P. Mester, I. Meyer-Wachsmuth, A. Nuryanto, J. Timm. 2009. Ge­netic pop­u­la­tion struc­tures of the blue starfish Linckia lae­vi­gata and its gas­tro­pod ec­topar­a­site Thyca crys­tal­lina. Ma­rine Ecol­ogy Progress Se­ries, 396: 211-219.

Magsino, R., M. Juinio-Meñez, R. Rav­ago. 2000. De­vel­op­ment and ap­pli­ca­tion of ge­netic mark­ers for pop­u­la­tion struc­ture analy­sis of the blue coral reef starfish, Linckia lae­vi­gata (Linn.) (Echin­o­der­mata: As­ter­oidea). Sci­ence Dil­i­man, 12/2: 10-16.

Mo­jica, E., R. Layson, M. Rodil, C. De­o­caris. 2003. Ma­rine in­ver­te­brates as source of po­ten­tial anti-tu­mor and an­tibac­te­r­ial agents. 8th South­ern Luzon Zonal R & D Re­view, DLSU, 1: 1-11.

Reef Re­al­ity Se­ries, 2010. "Blue sea star (Linckia lae­vi­gata) - Reef re­al­ity episode 12" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 01, 2011 at http://​www.​supergreenme.​com/​go-green-environment-eco:​Blue-Sea-Star--Linckia-laevigata----Reef-Reality-Episode--.

Ride­out, R. 1975. Tox­i­c­ity of the as­ter­oid Linckia lae­vi­gata (L.) to the dam­selfish Das­cyl­lus aru­anus (L.). Mi­cronesica, 11: 153-154.

Williams, S., J. Ben­zie. 1993. Ge­netic con­se­quences of long lar­val life in the starfish Linckia lae­vi­gata (Echin­o­der­mata: As­ter­oidea) on the Great Bar­rier Reef. Ma­rine Bi­ol­ogy, 117: 71-77.

Ya­m­aguchi, M. 1977. Pop­u­la­tion struc­ture, spawn­ing, and growth of the coral reef as­ter­oid Linckia lae­vi­gata (Lin­naeus). Pa­cific Sci­ence, 31/1: 13-30.