What Eats the Sunflower Sea Star

Easily stressed by predators such as large fish and other sea stars, they can shed arms to escape, which will grow back within a few weeks. They are preyed upon by the king crab.

What animal eats a sea star?

Many different animals eat sea stars, including fish, sea turtles, snails, crabs, shrimp, otters, birds and even other sea stars. Though the sea star’s skin is hard and bumpy, a predator can eat it whole if its mouth is large enough. Predators with smaller mouths can flip the sea star over and eat the softer underside.

What is killing off the starfish?

Since 2013, sea star wasting disease has killed so many starfish along the Pacific Coast that scientists say it’s the largest disease epidemic ever observed in wild marine animals.