Scientists in US and Singapore race to help endangered sea star, shellfish breed

A research team in California uses a hormone mixture to induce male and female sunflower sea stars to release their sperm and eggs. - PHOTO: BIRCH AQUARIUM AT SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY via The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): With its arms fanned wide open, the solitary creature sits regally on the Pacific Ocean floor, some 450m deep.

One of the largest and fastest sea stars in the world, the sunflower sea star has up to 24 arms – the most of its kind – can reach a diameter of 1m and can move as quickly as 3m per minute across the seabed, thanks to more than 15,000 tube feet beneath its arms which draw in water and move it through internal canals of its body.