Common feather star ( Antedon bifida ) – their outstretched feathery arms are held aloft to capture passing plankton . This is caught by tiny tube feet and passed down each arm to the central mouth on top of the feather star . Meanwhile , talon-like appendages on their underside grip onto the seabed .
Poor cod ( Trisopterus minutus ) – shoals of these small members of the cod family sometimes congregate around divers , looking for food we might disturb , but getting them in focus for this shot was still beyond me ! Shoals of poor cod may occasionally contain bib , distinguished by a deeper body and banding colouration , but I don ’ t recall seeing them in sea lochs .
Common brittlestar ( Ophiothrix fragilis ) – completing a trio of echinoderms , the arm of a brittlestar can just be seen in the very bottom right of the photograph . Brittlestars can move surprisingly quickly
CRITTERCONFIDENTIAL
and it may well have been making a rapid exit to evade the sunstar .
Just next to this rock , there was yet another echinoderm in the striking form of the more unusual purple sunstar ( Solaster endeca ). There was also a small spider crab ( Inachus sp .) with a coat of orange sponge which , along with the nearby sea anemones and tube worms , meant there was an obvious representative from every major animal phylum in a couple of square metres of seabed ! �
Arctic cowries feeding on sea squirts in Plymouth Sound
Common brittlestar , with part of a black brittlestar showing on the right
Feather star , showing the talon-like appendages for holding onto the seabed
The more unusual purple sunstar was seen nearby
Poor cod have a slimmer body than bib and no banding colouration
Small spider crab with sponge coat and yet more animals in the background , taken close to the main photo
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