Red Sea Star

About this species

Fromia milleporella, common name red starfish or black spotted starfish, is a species of starfish belonging to the family Goniasteridae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Fromia milleporella”, 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: 39 records
February: 34 records
March: 41 records
April: 51 records
May: 54 records
June: 36 records
July: 58 records
August: 46 records
September: 52 records
October: 56 records
November: 78 records
December: 82 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–45 m · Deepest record: 125 m

0–10 m: 34 records
10–20 m: 11 records
20–30 m: 3 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 21–29 °C

20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 131 records
26–28 °C: 34 records
28–30 °C: 40 records

Photos

(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Attila Oláh, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Hampton, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Daniel Eisenhauer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Emanuele Santarelli, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Red Sea Star, Thousand-pores Sea Star

Names in 3 more languages

French: Étoile rouge poreuse
Japanese: アカヒメジュズベリヒトデ／アカジュズベリヒトデ
Simplified Chinese: 多孔單篩海星

Other scientific names: Asterias milleporella, Fromia pistoria, Linckia pistoria, Scytaster milleporellus, Scytaster pistorius

Similar species

Blocked Sea Star
Fromia indica
Peppermint Sea Star
Fromia monilis
Heffernan's Sea Star
Fromia heffernani
Armored Sea Star
Fromia hemiopla
Fromia pacifica
Galloping Sea Star
Stellaster childreni

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).
372 open-data records from 1816 to 2019.
Species data updated October 30, 2026.