Meridiastra calcar (Lamarck, 1816)

Scientific name: Meridiastra calcar
  • Author(s)
    Jen Cork
  • Updated
    18/12/20
  • Read time
    2 minutes
J24332 Meridiastra calcar Click to enlarge image
J24332 Meridiastra calcar Image: Stephen Kebble
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Meridiastra
    Species
    calcar
  • Size Range
    Width 70 mm

Identification:

Flattened with seven to nine (usually eight), distinct, short arms (less than width of central disc), with acutely rounded webbed divisions between each arm. Aboral surface with minute scale-like apprearance, colour variable, including purple, green, white, yellow, orange, red, brown and grey.

Distribution:

Temperate inshore areas from Currumbin, Qld south to Tasmania and west to Albany, WA. Depth range 0-3 m.

Australian Museum registration database records for the Sydney region:

Mona Vale; Long Reef; Manly (Shelly Beach); Port Jackson (Balmoral; Green Point); Tamarama (Mackenzie’s Bay); Coogee; Maroubra; Botany Bay. Depth range not recorded but occurs intertidally.

Habitat:

Rock pools, sheltered reefs, mid intertidal.

J24332 Meridiastra calcar

Meridiastra calcar

Image: R.T. Springthorpe
© Australian Museum

Taxonomic information - synonyms and type material:

Asterias calcar Lamarck, 1816: 557.
Type data: type status and whereabouts unknown.
Type locality: Australian seas (Dartnall, 1971).

Links for further information:

World Register of Marine Species

Additional references:

Clark (1946); Dartnall (1971); Edgar (1997); O’Loughlin & Roy (2004).