Red-knobbed Starfish also known as the red spine star, African sea star, and the African red knob sea star is a species of starfish.

Description

Protoreaster linckii grows to a maximum diameter of 12 inches. It has numerous tubercles located along its five arms. These tubercles are bright red and extend upward from the arms. It has a gray body with stripes that connect the tubercles. This creates an appearance of a grid made of interconnecting wires.

The skeleton is composed of many calcareous ossicles and spicules. They are located inside the layer of connective tissue. This skeleton supports the large disk.

Habitat

This species is found in locations ranging from shallow tidal pools to reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

s up to 100 metres deep.

Behaviour and diet

Protoreaster linckii is active in the daytime. It is a popular aquarium fish, however, it is considered incompatible with other animals as it will eat many different species, such as soft corals, sponges, tubeworms, clams

CLaMS

CLaMS is a modular chemistry transport model system developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. CLaMS was first described by McKenna et al. and was expanded into three dimensions by Konopka et al....

, other starfish, and various invertebrates.