This enormous starfish is rarer in the Mediterranean than around the British coasts or Norway. There is no way it can mixed up with anything else as it is very big (up to 60cm) and it allways has 7 legs, possibly of uneven size.All along the legs you find white conspicuous spines but the actual body is very smooth.The color ranges from orange, yellow and their variations.Luidia ciliaris has been recorded from deep depths up to 600m but it prefers depths of up to 150m. It will not hesitate to sacrifice a leg or two to a predator as it will grow more very easily! It prefers to feed on brittlestars or other starfish and it can move quite fast with his huge tubefeet (visible in the picture on the underside of the animal). The internal systems of these animals have no intestine, ceca, or anus, and their gonads are arranged in a double series along the length of their arms.This specimen was photographed in Kelifos and an even bigger specimen was spotted in Pilio.These strange 7 legged starfish can live up to 2 or 3 years.
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