Starfish with up to 11 arms spotted in Maltese waters

Starfish with 10 or 11 arms have been spotted in deep waters off the Maltese coast, marine biologists have announced.  It is the first time the unusual-looking starfish species, Coronaster briareus, has been reported in the Mediterranean, with the species usually making its home in the western Atlantic ocean.  Traditionally, Mediterranean starfish are of the five-armed Echinaster sepositus variety.  "This is a quite a discovery," said Oceana senior director Ricardo Aguilar. "What we don't know for sure is how or why these starfish are in the Mediterranean. Either they travelled a long way from the Atlantic into Mediterranean waters, or they simply had not been spotted earlier because the animals were observed in deep waters." University of Malta biologist and researcher Patrick J. Schembri said the discovery "goes to show just how little we know about the sea which surrounds the Maltese Islands." Researchers from Oceana and the University of Malta spotted 26 starfish at depths ranging from 240 to 562 metres using an underwater robot. Some of the animals reached up to 25 cm in diameter and had a fiery-red colour and characteristic pom-pom-like white wreaths, known as...

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