Henricia Sea Star

Henricia Sea Star (tentative ID)

An unidentified sea star (possibly Henricia sp.) near one of the vents during a dive to the International District. It remained next to the chimney, despite the heat exuded by the vent plume. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive J2-1381; V21.

This species is also fairly common, often seen lounging on the basaltic lavas of Axial. They have long, slender arms and a relatively small central disk.

They have been tentatively identified as a Henricia species (or possibly a pedicellasterid) by Chris Mah, of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

References:
https://echinoblog.blogspot.com/search?q=henricia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henricia