Distinguishing features
The upper surface is a dark purplish colour, while the underside is orange. On the upper surface paxillae, little pillars with flattened summits, are cream, grey or brown, the colours sometimes making a chevron pattern. Along the edges of the five arms there is a fringe of long, sharp marginal spines, usually with brown bases and pale tips. The arms are fairly broad and have a maximum length of 9 centimetres. The tube feet are pointed rather than having suckers, an arrangement that is more suitable for digging. (Wikipedia)
Size
- Up to 20 cm (Arm span)
Depth range
- Depth range data is not yet available.
Synonyms
Distribution
Distribution and habitat preferences
It spends much of its time buried in the silty seabed. (Wikipedia)
Chronotypes
Diet
It feeds on detritus and bivalve and gastropod molluscs which it swallows whole. It also sometimes engulfs pebbles and digests the biofilm and small invertebrates adhering to the surface. (Wikipedia)
Web resources
Danger
- requires treatment - It contains the potent neurotoxin, tetrodotoxin, also known as TTX which has no known antidote. (Wikipedia)