Luidia sarsi

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Hi, During a dive in october 2011, the sea, between 4 to 5 meters deep, was full of hundreds of little yellow stars. Here's a picture of the estonishing larvae of Luidia sarsi. Do you sometime see that phenomenon?

Coleen Suckling I've not seen this before, it's amazing! Where were you diving?

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat Bay of Concarneau, Brittany, depth 4 meters, ceiling stop

Sabine Stöhr In Sweden we see this in autumn too. In mid-November the young seastars are ready to detach. they are orange-red here though.

Becky Hitchin Luidia is so amazing

Cynthia D. Trowbridge totally awesome :-)

Bernard Picton The thing I really like about these larvae is their obvious bilateral symmetry. They swim quite vigorously, flapping that tail back and forth. Lovely for explaining that the radial symmetry is actually a secondary state for echinoderms.

Keith Hiscock I have seen them (mainly L. sarsi but some L. ciliaris) on deco stops at Hand Deeps out of Plymouth on 28/09/08, in the Isles of Scilly at end Sept, beginning of Oct, 2009 and 08/09/10 and at Lundy at the beginning of September 2010. The gelatinous sheath is enigmatic as survives after the starfish has gone. Sometimes has haustoriid amphipod in with it.

Erling Svensen The Porania pulvillus have a lot larvae in the water now. They are just so nice and very beautiful.

Christopher L. Mah How do you know these are Porania pulvillus?

Christopher L. Mah there's pics of larvae from Luidia sarsi which appear similar http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2011/09/21/beauty-at-the-bottom-of-the-food-chain/

Sabine Stöhr Hmm, the largest larva in our waters is Luidia sarsii. We get these in November when we run a systematics course at the Swedish west coast. Does Porania really have a similar larva?

Sabine Stöhr I took a photo a while ago and put it on the echinoderm newsletter here http://www.nrm.se/echinoderm

Erling Svensen Christopher: If you look closely at the seastar sitting on the larvae, you can see it. And - I just know as this is the only one like this in Norway.

Erling Svensen If you look at the Luidia sarsi - the star is not that compact as the Porania. http://www.google.no/imgres?imgurl=http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/4201/PreviewComp/SuperStock_4201-28450.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/4201-28450&h=229&w=350&sz=31&tbnid=4LtmISuzwntuUM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=138&zoom=1&usg=__tKU8w_rfXNATertqbqsUTs46gs0=&docid=6kRVlTrHVD3QKM&sa=X&ei=gURQUobwBcqp4ATc4ICgDA&sqi=2&ved=0CD4Q9QEwBg

Jessica Marks Jeepers. I was unaware that Porania has a huge, stalked bipinnaria larvae like L. ciliaris and L. sarsi? Is there anything published on it? Sure it's not just a different stage? (This old reference on Porania pulvillus makes it look like a regular bip. larva - http://jcs.biologists.org/content/s2-61/241/27.full.pdf). Do they co-occur? Surely if L. sarsi is found off the western Sweish coast it occasionally occurs a wee bit farther north where I am? (I'm out-of-the-loop on Scandinavian seastar larvae so just wondering here).

Christopher L. Mah I'm sorry but unless you've verified this with something more rigorous like DNA or physically grown them out you really don't have a good basis for identifying this as Porania. A LOT of juvenile sea stars look essentially identical right at the outset. Larvae can be widely distributed.and L. sarsi DOES occur in Norway.

Sabine Stöhr The size and shape of the juvenile may change with age. If thse survive like this till mid-November they may easily change with growth.

Claire Goodwin We got a lot of very similar larvae off the scillies Erling . I was assuming luidia too. Will dig out picture if I get a chance - not as good as yours though!

Erling Svensen Ues, I know very well the L. sarsi. I did explain bad what I ment. So now I am quite open to this. Interesting..... http://uwphoto.no/shopexd.asp?id=16143

Christopher L. Mah I don't have access to the paper but I'm pretty sure your picture is the so-called "giant larvae" of Luidia sarsii as per Domanski - that also may explain how you photographed it. Most larvae require a scope to view... http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02180186

Christopher L. Mah The "star" is the rudiment which undergoes transformation and probably some reabsorbtion, so it will look very different following settlement and growth. Very little is known regarding Porania larvae. It would be one thing if you said, you saw this grown out through the different stages..but based on available evidence, this looks to me more like Luidia sarsi or something similar to it.

George Brown Took this photo of Lineus longissimus last weekend but looking at the image later noticed about 30 tiny orange starfish grouped together. Each starfish is about 5 to 7mm in diameter. I thought starfish larvae formed part of the plankton as a dispersal strategy but does this species avoid that phase? East coast of Eilean nan Ron, north coast of Scotland, depth 4m. Photograph taken 14th April 2013.

David Kipling Asterina phylatica is a brooder - sits over the eggs on the rock until they hatch and metamorphose. The baby starfish then crawl out from under the arms. There's a short window in early summer when you can catch them doing this, do I'm reliably informed.

David Kipling *so

George Brown Is Asterina gibbosa a brooder? I've got to say that I've never seen an adult form of either species. Must try harder!

Keith Hiscock They look rather like the Luidia sarsi that I see in late summer floating about in their gelatinous sheaths in the plankton. The orange colour is very 'Luidia'. Could a swarm have settled together? More ideas needed. Thought about Porania but that has a brachiolaria larva that spends more than a month in the plankton and none of the pics (Google search) show a distinct starfish. If staying together in a swarm, could metamorphose into the little ones in the photo?