Starfish - Flatbottom Seastar (Asterias amurensis) For Sale - New and Used

gaofudev Store

Real Starfish (Flatbottom Seastar - Asterias amurensis) specimen encased in square indestructible,transparentlucite block. Safe,authentic and completely unbreakable specimen put real starfish right at your fingertips! Anyone can safely explore the starfish from every angle. It is clear enough for microscope observation.

Length of the starfish is 6.5 cm (2.6 inch).

Size of thelucite block is 7.6x7.6x2.5 cm (3x3x1 inch).

Each one comes with a cardboard box for easy storage. Weight of thelucite block is 190 g and 220 g with packing box.

It is an ideal learning aid for students and kids and also a very good collectible item for every body.

This is a handmade real animal specimen craft. Each one will be a bit different (specimen size, color and posture) even in the same production batch.
The picture in my listing is just for reference as we are selling multiple pieces with the same picture.

*** Wholesale is welcome.

I have a lot more specimenitems in my you may log in my store to select.

Shipping cost:

Free shipping cost.

Goods will be sent by airmail from Hong Kong and it may take 12-18 days to arrive.

I can do combined shipping if buyer also buys other items in my store.

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Flatbottom Seastar - Asterias amurensis

Order: Forcipulatida
Family: Asteriidae
Genus: Asterias

Taxonomic name: Asterias amurensis
Common names: Flatbottom seastar, Japanese Seastar, Japanese starfish, Nordpazifischer Seestern (German), North Pacific seastar, northern Pacific seastar, purple-orange seastar
Organism type: sea star

Originally found in far north Pacific waters and areas surrounding Japan, Russia, North China, and Korea, the northern Pacific seastar (Asterias amurensis) has successfully invaded the southern coasts of Australia and has the potential to move as far north as Sydney. The seastar will eat a wide range of prey and has the potential for ecological and economic harm in its introduced range. Because the seastar is well established and abundantly widespread, eradication is almost impossible. However, prevention and control measures are being implemented to stop the species from establishing in new waters.

Description
Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) can grow upto 50 cm in diameter. It is yellow with red and purple pigmentation on its five arms, and a small central disk. Its distinctive characteristic is its upturned tips which are its identification key when compared to similar starfish. The undersides are completely yellow and arms are unevenly covered with small, jagged-edged spines. These spines line the groove in which the tube feet lie, and join up at the mouth in a fan-like shape.

Similar Species
Pisaster brevispinus, Pisaster giganteus, Pisaster ochraceus

Occurs in:
estuarine habitats, marine habitats

Habitat description
While Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) prefers waters temperatures of 7-10°C, it has adapted to warmer Australian waters of 22°C. It is typically found in shallow waters of protected coasts and is not found on reefs or in areas with high wave action. The starfish is capable of tolerating many temperatures and wide ranges of salinities. It is often found in estuaries and on mud, sand or rocky sheltered areas of intertidal zones. The maximum temperature for Asterias amurensis is 25°C and the minimum is 0°C. The salinity range for this species is between 18.7 and 41ppt, while the maximum depth at which individuals have been found is 220m.

General impacts
Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) has the potential to establish large populations in new areas. Estimates made in Port Philip Bay (where they were first detected), indicate that numbers reached as much as 12 million individuals in two years. In their native range they are known to go through 'bust and boom' cycles reaching high abundance and then rapid decline.

The northern Pacific seastar is a voracious feeder, preferring mussels, scallops and clams. It will eat almost anything it can find, including dead fish and fish waste. The seastar is considered a serious pest of native marine organisms. The seastar is also considered a mariculture pest, settling on scallop longlines, spat bags, mussel and oyster lines and salmon cages.

In Japan seastar outbreaks cost the mariculture industry millions of dollars.

Uses
No valuable human use has been documented. Hunting incentives have been suggested, such as catching and drying as souvenirs.

Notes
In its native Japan, Solaster paxillatus (a sunstar) has been noted as a predator of Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar). The predation of A. amurensis by king crabs in Alaskan aquaria has also been observed. The size of prey eaten by A. amurensis usually equals the length of the seastar's arm. Organisms that compete with A. amurensis include: Uniophora granifera, Coscinasterias muricata and Odobenus rosmarus divergens (Pacific walruses).

Geographical range
Native range: Native to Japan, North China, Korea, Russia, and far North Pacific waters.

Introduction pathways to new locations
Live food trade: Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) can be transmitted via seawater in live fish trade
Ship ballast water: Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) larvae can be distributed through ballast water
Ship/boat hull fouling: Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) can be distributed on ship hulls
Translocation of machinery/equipment: Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) can be unintentionally transferred via recreational boats
Transportation of habitat material: Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) settles on scallop longlines, spat bags, mussel and oyster lines, and salmon cages.

Local dispersal methods
Water currents: Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) larvae are transported in water currents.

Management information
Asterias amurensis is identified as one of the ten most damaging potential domestic target species, based on overall impact potential (economic and environmental). A hazard ranking of potential domestic target species based on invasion potential from infected to uninfected bioregions identifies Asterias amurensis as a 'medium priority species' - these species have a reasonably high impact/or invasion potential.

Nutrition
Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) eats bivalves, gastropod molluscs, barnacles, crabs, crustaceans, worms, echinoderms, ascidians, sea urchins, sea squirts and other seastars, including conspecifics if food source becomes exhausted.

Reproduction
Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastar) reproduces sexually and asexually. Spawning occurs between July and October in Australian waters . The female seastar is capable of carrying up to 20 million eggs. Fertilisation is external and larvae remains in a planktonic stage for up to 120 days before settling and metamorphosing into juvenile starfish. Sperm half life at 10°C > 2 hours, at 17°C < 30 minutes.

Lifecycle stages
Juvenile Asterias amurensis (northern Pacific seastars) grow up to 6mm per month in the first year and continue to grow 1 - 2mm per month until maturity. The female is able to reproduce at about 12 months of age, when they are around 10cm in diameter.

This species has been nominated as among 100 of the "World's Worst" invaders. ***