Tanner’s sea star Sclerasterias tanneri

Tanner’s sea star – Sclerasterias tanneri – Small sea star found on the continental shelf and slope from the Gulf of Maine to Venezuela, including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Juveniles frequently have six arms, adults have five.

Slender arm sea star – Lepasterias tenera – Large sea star found on the continental shelf to 180 m depth from Nova Scotia to South Florida.

Dividing star – Stephanasterias albula – Tiny sea star found in Arctic Ocean, both sides of the north Atlantic, Mediterranean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean. The number of arms is indeterminate, varying from four to ten, and arm size may differ greatly because this sea star reproduces asexually by voluntarily dividing and regenerating the missing arms.

Blood star- Henricia sanguinolenta – Medium sized sea star found along the North Atlantic and North Pacific coasts of N. America. Its color may vary, but is often rich red, hence its name. Unlike most sea stars that have free-swimming larvae, blood stars brood their young and have no planktonic larval stage.

Margined sea star – Astropecten americanus – Medium size sea star found on continental shelf from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras. This sea star lives on sand and gravelly sand bottoms, and unlike many other species, has no suckers on its tube feet and swallows its small prey whole. It often occurs in very high densities and is a major predator of newly-settled sea scallops, which are small enough to be swallowed whole.

Gray sea star – Luidia clathrata - This southeastern species has no suckers on its tube feet and lives on sandy bottoms and can move remarkably quickly over flat, sandy surfaces. The northern limit of its distribution is Virginia.

Cushion star – Porania pulvillus – Large red sea star with thick, smooth skin and no external spines. This star is a deposit feeder (eats small animals in sediment) and is widespread in deep water on both sides of the north Atlantic.

Slate pencil urchin – Eucidaris tribuloides – This urchin is widespread in the shallow coastal waters of the Caribbean and American tropics, ranging as far north as Virginia. Its primary food is algae and it is remarkable for its thick, blunt spines which in former times were used to write on slate, as chalk is used on blackboards today.

Green sea urchin – Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis – This urchin is typically found on rocky areas along the shoreline and in the coastal ocean in New England and in deeper water further south. Its full distribution also includes both sides of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans and the Arctic Ocean. It eats seaweeds and other algaes. Its scientific name is the longest of all zoological names: 32 letters.

Pancake urchin – family Echinothuriidae – Unlike most urchins, these do not have a completely calcified (hardened) skeleton. On the bottom they inflate their bodies by creating a slight increase in water pressure inside, giving them a globose shape typical of sea urchins in life. Brought to the surface, they deflate and collapse into a flat “pancake” shape.

Long-spined sea urchin – Coelopleurus floridanus – This is a deepwater Carolinian (southern) cousin of the common purple sea urchin (Arbacia punculata), occasionally seen as far north as Virginia (where these two were caught), but normally found in the southeast, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.