Giant Pink Star (Pisaster brevispinus)

Description: Because of it’s large size, pink color, and short spines this star is often called the giant pink star, pink sea star, short-spined sea star, or spiny pink star. Giant pink stars are one of the larger sea stars reaching up to 65 cm (25 in) long! As their name suggests, this species of sea star is pink in color. The giant pink sea star has a think central disk with five stiff legs, and multiple tiny spines on the top surface that are less than 2 mm in length. 

Habitat: Giant pink sea stars are typically found on soft intertidal surfaces such as mud or sand, along the coast from Alaska to California. They typically prefer deeper waters of the low intertidal zone down to 182 m.

Diet: The giant pink sea stars diet consists of sand dollars, mussels, clams and other mollusks. They are also scavenger feeders, who feed on dead fish and squid. To reach buried prey (like Pacific geoduck), these sea stars dig by extending their tube feet into the sediment and pull their prey to the surface. 

Tide Pool Tidbits:

• The giant pink sea star was the inspiration for Patrick Star in Sponge Bob Square Pants.

• It can turn its stomach inside out, in order to digest prey in the shell. 

• Like many other sea stars, the giant pink sea star can preform limb regeneration if the center disc is still intact.

Reference: Walla Walla University, The New Beachcomber’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest by J. Duane Sept