Eastern six-armed star

Meridiastra oriens

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth1–11 m
Water temperature8–26 °C
Best monthsJanuary and March
How commonRare

All species

Photo credit: (c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 27 records
February: 26 records
March: 45 records
April: 21 records
May: 13 records
June: 7 records
July: 1 records
August: 6 records
September: 5 records
October: 17 records
November: 12 records
December: 19 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–11 m · Deepest record: 19 m

0–10 m: 25 records
10–20 m: 8 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 8–26 °C

6–8 °C: 2 records
8–10 °C: 0 records
10–12 °C: 0 records
12–14 °C: 6 records
14–16 °C: 78 records
16–18 °C: 18 records
18–20 °C: 36 records
20–22 °C: 40 records
22–24 °C: 20 records
24–26 °C: 2 records

Names and classification

English: Eastern six-armed star

Other scientific names: Patiriella oriens

Similar species

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

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.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
223 open-data records from 1935 to 2013.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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