Species group · Brittle stars

Brittlestars

WAnimals has 2 species of brittlestar, spread across 2 families (Amphiuridae, Ophiotrichidae).

2 species

2 families

31 countries

50 parks

Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 2.

All 2 species of brittlestars on WAnimals

Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Common Brittlestar

Ophiothrix fragilis

Brittlestar

Amphiura filiformis

2 Not Evaluated

No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.

Recorded in 31 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Its beds can exceed a thousand individuals per square metre and cover kilometres of seabed, forming a living carpet that filters the water and reshapes the sediment.
From Common Brittlestar
It breaks with extraordinary ease: at the slightest tug it sheds an arm, which it later regrows, and hence its name.
From Common Brittlestar
Unlike the sea stars, it does not move on tube feet but by snaking its arms, a fast and surprisingly agile motion.
From Common Brittlestar
It is one of the animals that contribute most to turning over and oxygenating the muddy bottoms of the north-eastern Atlantic, and its densities can exceed a thousand individuals per square metre.
From Brittlestar
It is bioluminescent: the arms emit greenish flashes when something touches them, probably to give the predator away to a larger one.
From Brittlestar
Fish and crustaceans constantly nip off the tips of the arms that protrude, and the brittle star regrows them endlessly; that cycle of loss and regeneration is in itself a pathway of energy transfer to the rest of the community.
From Brittlestar