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Friday, July 15, 2022

Upward projection

  


A close-up mystery photo!  

Can you guess what it might be?

[You can click on the image for a larger view.]

Those clusters of pink, finger-like projections are called papulae.  They extend above this animal's skin and are sites for respiration (gas exchange).

And the answer is...


 
The first photo was an extreme close-up of the upper surface of a Leather Star (Dermasterias imbricata).  Photographed 15 July 2022.

4 comments:

John W. Wall said...

Beautiful. I love the close-up.

Alice Chan said...

I would never have guessed that! Beautiful critter!

Unknown said...

Hi Jackie! We have a question: how big is this star fish? Thank you so much!

Jackie Sones said...

Hello!

Thanks for the comments and questions!

Re: the size of the sea star. I didn't measure, but it was about the size of my hand with fingers spread out -- so perhaps around 16 cm (6 inches) across from arm tip to arm tip.

I hope this helps!

Jackie