Meridiastra mortenseni

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth6–64 m
Water temperature13–18 °C
Best monthsSeptember
How commonRare

Photo credit: (c) Saryu Mae 前朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Meridiastra mortenseni is a sea star of the family Asterinidae. It is endemic to New Zealand. Described as Patiriella mortenseni in 2002, it is named after T. Mortensen, who recorded it as distinct from Patiriella regularis, the New Zealand common cushion star, in 1925. According to genetic evidence, P. mortenseni was moved from the Patiriella genus to Meridiastra in 2004.

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 2 records
February: 5 records
March: 2 records
April: 2 records
May: 3 records
June: 0 records
July: 6 records
August: 1 records
September: 18 records
October: 4 records
November: 0 records
December: 0 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 6–64 m · Deepest record: 276 m

0–10 m: 15 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 13–18 °C

12–14 °C: 3 records
14–16 °C: 3 records
16–18 °C: 15 records

Photos

(c) Jenny Saito, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Javier, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Saryu Mae 前朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

Other scientific names: Patiriella mortenseni

Similar species

Carpet Sea Star
Meridiastra calcar
Gunn's six-armed star
Meridiastra gunnii
Meridiastra fissura
Meridiastra medius
Meridiastra occidens
Eastern six-armed star
Meridiastra oriens

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).
27 open-data records from 1958 to 2011.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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