Warty starfish

Scientific name : Echinaster callosus

Sea star with 5 arms, conical and with blunt tip. The background colour is greenish-brown, with pink or white tubercles. Readily identified by the large tubercles arranged in transversal rows, and fused together at the tip of the arms to make a band across. 25 cm diameter.
Encountered in the back reef, reef front and external reef.
Unique for the tubercles, that only at a first sight can recall the callosities of Nardoa frianti or Nardoa tuberculata.