Blue bat star

About this species

Patiria pectinifera, the blue bat star, is a species of starfish in the family Asterinidae. It is found in the northern Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Japan, China and Russia. It is used as a model organism in developmental biology.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Patiria pectinifera”, 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: 30 records
February: 52 records
March: 58 records
April: 84 records
May: 115 records
June: 88 records
July: 123 records
August: 99 records
September: 77 records
October: 59 records
November: 34 records
December: 24 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–80 m · Deepest record: 287 m

0–10 m: 4 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 3 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 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 14–29 °C

12–14 °C: 2 records
14–16 °C: 5 records
16–18 °C: 2 records
18–20 °C: 178 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 0 records
26–28 °C: 0 records
28–30 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) alexey_tat, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Kim, Hyun-tae, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Nelya Garaeva, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) りなべる, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) mister_bumble, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Alexander A. Fomichev, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Se Lena, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Blue bat star

Names in 2 more languages

Japanese: イトマキヒトデ
Korean: 별불가사리

Other scientific names: Asterina pectinifera, Asteriscus pectinifera

Similar species

Carpet Sea Star
Meridiastra calcar
Gunn's six-armed star
Meridiastra gunnii
Dwarf Cushion Star
Parvulastra exigua
Common cushion star
Patiriella regularis
Anseropoda rosacea
Seven-armed Coral Star
Aquilonastra anomala

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).
917 open-data records from 1932 to 2026.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.