Golden small star

About this species

Bellastraea aurea, common name the golden small star, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turbinidae, the turban snails.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Bellastraea aurea”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 154 records
February: 152 records
March: 143 records
April: 113 records
May: 51 records
June: 60 records
July: 41 records
August: 36 records
September: 89 records
October: 82 records
November: 83 records
December: 107 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0 m · Deepest record: 56 m

0–10 m: 230 records
10–20 m: 5 records
20–30 m: 2 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 3 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–23 °C

12–14 °C: 65 records
14–16 °C: 435 records
16–18 °C: 48 records
18–20 °C: 13 records
20–22 °C: 6 records
22–24 °C: 3 records

Photos

(c) James K. Douch, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Victor Phillips, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Julia Palmer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rosalie Lawrence, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Terra Occ, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Golden small star

Other scientific names: Astralium aureum, Carinidea granulata, Trochus aureus

Similar species

scaly small star
Bellastraea squamifera
Astralium rhodostomum
Common Tent Shell
Astralium tentoriiforme
Moon Turban
Lunella cinerea
Silvermouth turban
Turbo argyrostomus
Gold-mouthed turban
Turbo chrysostomus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
860 open-data records from 1910 to 2023.
Species data updated October 31, 2026.