126 New York State Museum 



ranging from Texas to Cape Cod and found in tide pools 

 and on the rocks at low-water mark. This is a large 

 form, four to five inches long and about an inch thick, 

 purple in color and with the surface thickly covered with 

 prominent papillae. Another species (Pentacta fron- 

 dosa) is very dark purple on one side and whitish on the 

 other, with nearly smooth surface. The body is ovate 

 and somewhat pentagonal and when the animal is full 

 grown measures 15 to 18 inches. This form is very 

 plentiful on the Maine coast in tide pools and on the 

 rocks at low-water mark. The genus has a range over 

 the greater part of the world. The common species of 

 serpent stars, the Brittle Star (Ophiopholis aculeata), is 

 readily recognized by its mottled coloration in light gray 

 and purplish brown. While this brittle star is abundant 

 at depths of 100 feet, where it crawls about among the 

 rocky crevices, it is also found, though more rarely, in 

 shallow waters; but it is plentiful in the tide pools of the 

 Maine coast. A similar, perhaps an identical species, 

 occurs on the North Pacific coast. There is a tiny star- 

 fish, one-half inch to two inches in diameter and of vari- 

 ous colors — ■ purple, orange, red, yellow, flesh-color etc. — 

 which is abundant in rocky tide pools from the eastern 

 end of Long Island to the Arctic ocean. This is the 

 Blood Starfish {Cribella sanguinolcnta) . The so-called 

 Common Starfish (Asterias vulgaris, A. forbesii) also 

 occurs in the tide pools. Both species are much larger 

 than the Blood Starfish and are the common starfishes 

 of the Atlantic coast. A. vulgaris ranges from North 

 Carolina to Labrador, but is common only north of Cape 

 Cod; A. forbesii from the Gulf of Mexico to Massachu- 

 setts bay, but is rare north of Cape Cod. These are the 

 species particularly destructive to oyster beds. The more 



