Another Beach Find

It is always interesting to find starfish on the beach. Sometimes hundreds of them wash up at the same time (is it part of their natural life cycle, the result of unusual currents, or because of some other factor?). Normally we find colorful purple and orange starfish (Astropecten articulatus), or larger gray starfish (Luidia clathrata). Every once in a while these plumper specimens, sometimes just called common sea stars, wash up.

Can any of our readers provide the full scientific name for this echinoderm?

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is about islanders who worked on the water, and lost their lives at sea. You can read the Newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news012116.htm.