Sue Daly / Large group of Sunflower sea stars (Asterias / Pycnopodia helianthoides) covering rock, pacific coast, Canada, August

Sue Daly / Large group of Sunflower sea stars (Asterias / Pycnopodia helianthoides) covering rock, pacific coast, Canada, August

Fred Bavendam / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) crawling amidst Kelp, Sponge, Sea Anemones, Sea Urchins, and a Sculpin, Quadra Island, British Columbia, Canada

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) and Morning Sunstar (Solaster dawsoni) scavenging Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus). Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. North Pacific Ocean.

Pascal Kobeh / Diver taking a picture of Sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Alaska, USA, Gulf of Alaska. Pacific ocean. August 2011.

Pascal Kobeh / Sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Alaska, USA, Gulf of Alaska. Pacific ocean.

Pascal Kobeh / Sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) and two leather stars (Dermasterias imbricata) among giant plumrose anemones (Metridium giganteum), Alaska, USA, Gulf of Alaska. Pacific ocean.

Lynn M Stone / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) Olga Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska, USA, August.

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) scavenging dead Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada North Pacific Ocean

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) scavenging dead Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada North Pacific Ocean

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) scavenging dead Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus) Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, North Pacific Ocean

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower SeaStar (Pycnopodia helianthoides) scavenging dead Yelloweye Rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus). Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, North Pacific Ocean

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) scavenging Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, North Pacific Ocean

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) scavenging Pacific Cod (Gadus macrocephalus). Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. North Pacific Ocean

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) scavenging dead Pacific Cod (Gadus macrocephalus) Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. North Pacific Ocean

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) close up of skin surface, Queen Charlotte Strait, British Columbia, Canada, North Pacific Ocean

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) close up of skin surface, Queen Charlotte Strait, British Columbia, Canada, North Pacific Ocean

Alex Mustard / Steller sealion (Eumetopias jubatus) 3 metre long male swimming out of a kelp forest, passing a colourful Sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) Race Rocks, Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Colu...

Jeff Rotman / Sunflower starfish (Pycnopodia helianthoides) scavenging on seabed, British Columbia, Canada, Pacific Ocean.

Shattil & Rozinski / Sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) underwater, British Columbia, Canada, September

Sue Daly / Sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia / Asterias helianthoides) close up of arm showing tube feet, Pacific coast, Canada, August

Sue Daly / Sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia / Asterias helianthoides) on seabed, Pacific coast, Canada, August

Norbert Wu / Sea cucumber exhibits escape response when threatened by arms of Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Sequence 2 of 3

Norbert Wu / Sea cucumber exhibits escape response when threatened by arms of Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Sequence 3 of 3

Norbert Wu / Sea cucumber exhibits escape response when threatened by arms of Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Sequence 1 of 3

Norbert Wu / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) arms curling around a blade of kelp, Alaska

Norbert Wu / Sea Cucumber exhibits escape response when threatened by arms of Sunflower Sea Stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Norbert Wu / Sea Cucumber exhibits escape response when threatened by arms of Sunflower Sea Stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Norbert Wu / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) and Purple Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) in feeding on Frilled Sea Anemones (Metridium senile), Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Juergen Freund / Close up of skin of Sunflower sea star {Pycopodia helianthoides} showing many pedicellariae, British Columbia, Canada

Fred Bavendam / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) female, spawning, standing on her tiptoes while releasing a thin stream of eggs into the ocean, British Columbia, Canada

Fred Bavendam / Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) beginning to regenerate lost arms, Barkley Sound, British Columbia, Canada

David Hall / Sunflower seastar {Pycnopodia helianthoides} on seabed, beside Sea urchins and kelp, British Columbia, Canada

Juergen Freund / Sunflower sea star {Pycnopodia helianthoides} pacific, Canada

Juergen Freund / Close up of skin of Sunflower sea star {Pycnopodia helianthoides} pacific, Canada

Alex Mustard / Sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) gills detail, Browning Pass, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, Queen Charlotte Strait, Pacific Ocean.

Shane Gross / Underwater seascape showing Sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Orange sea cucumbers (Cucumaria miniata) and Sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus sp.), Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island, British C...

Shane Gross / Sunflower seastar (Pycnopodia helianthoides), juvenile, feeding on algae growing on kelp (Laminariales), Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, Pacific Ocean.

Shane Gross / Sunflower seastar (Pycnopodia helianthoides), juvenile, feeding on algae growing on Eelgrass (Zostera marina), Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, Pacific Ocean.

Shane Gross / Sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) close-up detail of gills and spines surrounded by pedicellariae, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Shane Gross / Sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) close-up detail of tufts of gills and spines surrounded by pedicellariae, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, Pacific Ocean.

Alex Mustard / Orange sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) beneath a forest of giant bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana). Browning Pass, Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Queen Charlotte Str...

David Hall / Split level of Sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) on rocks underwater, Minstrel Island, British Columbia, Canada. March.

David Hall / A young Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) attempting to cross over and avoid touching a row of huge Sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Hanson's Island, British Colulmbia,...

David Hall / Black-and-white sea flea (Chromopleustes oculatus) on a Sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), Port Neville, Johnstone Strait, British Columbia, Canada. March.

David Hall / Sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) the largest sea stars in the world, Johnstone Strait, British Columbia, Canada. March.