Granulated Starfish

Image: Samuel Chow
Choriaster granulatus

Get stuffed, teddy bear! Stay down, plushy dog! Off you hop, bunny wabbit!

There's a new soft toy in town. And he's all arms.

Image: Bernard DUPONT

The Granulated Starfish is a great, big starfish from western, Indo-Pacific waters. They can be found from the east coast of Africa to Fiji and from southern Japan to Australia.

Image: Bernard DUPONT

There's really no mistaking them. They can reach almost 30 cm (a foot) across and look like podgy teddy stars.

Doughboy

And with their pale colours and half-baked appearance, it's little wonder that some people call them Doughboy Starfish.

They can be found relaxing on the seabed, munching on coral polyps, worms and anything else that can't get away.

Image: Markus Fritze

And, er, whatever they're eating, it looks like they eat a lot of it.

It must be so difficult to get proper exercise when you're a starfish.