The deep-sea spiny star scales towering corals for their favorite meal

With a puffy and prickly body, the spiny star (Hippasteria sp.) is easy to spot on the deep seafloor. These stars roam the seafloor searching for a delicious dinner, and a hungry Hippasteria can be quite particular when it comes to feeding. For some, sea pens or anemones are their sole preference. Here in our backyard, spiny stars seek out prey that is particularly prevalent in the Monterey Bay and beyond: deep-sea corals.
While some corals have evolved protective stinging sweeper tentacles to deter hungry predators, spiny stars are determined in their quest for a nutritious feast. They use tiny tube feet to scale a towering coral. When they find a good spot to stop, they wrap their arms around the stalk to hang on tight, then extrude their stomach out of their mouth to devour the juicy coral polyps.
Hippasteria are important in restructuring the habitats where they live. As they leave dead coral skeletons behind, homes for new animals are created. This natural turnover keeps the community healthy and helps foster diversity among the fishes and invertebrates that live there.
Animals that live deep in the ocean thrive in cold water and high salinity. Changes in climate at the surface ripple down to the depths below. Warmer and more acidic waters put deep-sea corals-and the animals that depend on them for food and shelter-at risk.
Studying the animals of the deep is increasingly urgent. Overfishing, pollution, and climate change all threaten the deep ocean. What we learn in the field and in the lab improves our baseline understanding of deep-sea communities so we can assess and track ongoing human impacts on the animals and habitats far beneath the ocean’s surface.
Learn more about the spiny star and other fascinating animals of the deep at our Animals of the Deep gallery: www.mbari.org/animal/spiny-star
Script writer: Larissa Lemon
Science advisor: Chris Mah
Editor: Ted Blanco
Narrator: Madeline Go
Production team: Heidi Cullen, Madeline Go, Larissa Lemon, Raúl Nava, Kyra Schlining, Nancy Jacobsen Stout, Susan von Thun
Music: A Beautiful New World by Jon Presstone
References:
Mah, C., M. Nizinski, and L. Lundsten. 2010. Phylogenetic revision of the Hippasterinae (Goniasteridae; Asteroidea): systematics of deep sea corallivores, including one new genus and three new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 160(2): 266-301. doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00638.x

[@bw4708]

Fascinating footage, pleasant commentary, no fluff; this channel really is one of the good ones

[@GiacomoCarali]

shout out to my fellas the sea stars

[@eternaldoorman5228]

Your videos always make my day. I am so sorry I couldn't come and see you when I was in CA in 2022.

[@boundsgreenboy8354]

Simple beautiful MBARI 👌

[@oneshotme]

Oh yeah I'll do things when hunger hit now LOL
I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@ronaldvanheest3572]

Hippasteria, I love the Def Leppard song!

[@matthew_pauls]

Not to mention some great soundtrack moments!

[@alveolate]

love the narrator's voice!

[@asterias]

LOVE it!

[@TheLoneWolf-cd7cw]

Patrick's army took over the ocean

[@user-tb9rf7gl6s]

❤

[@ronaldvanheest3572]

I've heard of plastic bags being found in the Marianna Trench, have you guys found any plastic?

[@jessicamarsh1337]

it's practically impossible to go anywhere and not find (micro)plastics nowadays.

[@MBARIvideo]

Unfortunately, we do find plastic pollution, from the surface to the deep seafloor. Stay tuned for our next RUclips video, focused on plastic pollution in the deep sea. We'll share it on Earth Day, Monday, April 22. In the meantime, check out this video about microplastics in the ocean: ruclips.net/video/LiH3f6AKFbc/видео.htmlsi=WoqkyDBkNqUIZ4aQ

[@KingfisherA538]

First

[@johnedwards6208]

I thought they like Krabby Patties.