During a night dive, I encountered this basket star (Astroboa nudi). Its fully extended and many branching arms covered an area of over one metre in diameter. This species of echinoderm - the largest of the brittle stars and a nocturnal feeder - shelters in coral reef crevices during the day, emerging after sunset in a tangle of its flexible arms (see image MTF9C1). It then climbs to the top of an outcrop and deploys its many tentacles, in order to catch small planktonic animals which are passing in the current. The prey is then passed to the central mouth. Photographed in the Egyptian Red Sea

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Size: 4752px × 3168px
Location: Near Marsa Alam, Egypt
Photo credit: © Terence Dormer / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

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