Feather stars live in both shallow water and the depths of the ocean. Their scientific name, crinoid, comes from the Greek words for ‘lily’ (krinon) and ‘form’ (eidos), and it’s not hard to see why their first observer named them such. Graceful, flowing arms flow in the water column, grabbing bits of plankton passing by.
Feather stars consume small food particles floating around the ocean. With feather arms and tubular feet, they are able to trap any edibles using a sticky mucus that feeds into the mouth. Because feather stars do not have an official stomach, consumables cycle through their body in waves while still providing nutrition.
Did you know they have infinite arms? That’s right, feather stars can regenerate their arms at less than a millimeter per day!
Fish are the biggest enemy of feather stars, but other small animals that live on feather stars, like shrimp, will occasionally snack on their host too. Most of them don’t even go out for food and just snack on the faeces of the feather star. Sound good?
Equipment used on my dive: Essence Liquidskin mask, Rebel Dry snorkel, Power Plana fins, Flexa boots, Thermo Guard undersuit and Reef wetsuit.
Thomas Van Puymbroeck
19th October 2020
