Primes

Prime numbers are common in plants but not so common with animals unless you are talking about starfish. The eleven-armed sea star, Coscinasterias muricata, is our largest starfish and very common here in South Australia. There were plenty of these starfish under Edithburgh Jetty but this guy was the only one nicely posing for a […]

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Sunlight and the Starfish

I’ve tried to work out who this guy is. It could be Echinaster varicolor or perhaps Pseudonepanthia troughtoni or even Nectria ocellata. I will leave that one up to the experts and concentrate on the shadows, the sunlight and the starfish. Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Star in the Spotlight’ 1/200 f/22 ISO800 15mm

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My Mussels

The way this teddybear star (Anthenea australiae) has latched onto that bed of mussels has a kind of possession quality. It’s as if she’s saying ‘Hands off,… My mussels!’ No sooner had I uttered that phrase and I was whisked away into a Sydney dentists office and to his the characters in his marine aquarium. […]

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Gingerbread Man

Biscuit Stars, Tosia australis, come in all sorts of colour variations. This beautiful purple star under Rapid Bay Jetty reminded me of a gingerbread man with its striking orange internal markings. Sea stars are not perhaps the most exciting of undersea critters and are often overlooked by divers who miss out on their intricate beauty. […]

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Ocean’s Eleven Again

When is an animal truly primal? Does having eleven arms, a prime number, count? Prime numbers are actually quite common in plants but seem wrong in the animal world. Our Oceans’ Eleven and and Edithburgh resident, the eleven-armed sea star, Coscinasterias muricata, is our largest starfish and is as primal as they come! Photo: Robert […]

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