1. Ochre Sea Star in Puget Sound
Common name: Ochre Sea Start or Purple Sea Star
Scientific Name: Pisaster Ochraceus

2. What the Ochre Sea Start looks like
The sea star has five stout rays that range in length from 10 to 25 centimeters
Most are purple but they can be orange, orange-ochre, and brown
The star contains many small spines (ossicles) on the middle part of the creature.
The ossicles grow no higher than 2 mm
The legs or the tube feet have suckers on their distal ends which allow them to attach to rocks and live in heavily wave-swept areas

3. What the Ochre Sea Star eats
mussels 
sea snails
barnacles
chitons
limpets
sea urchins

4. How the Sea Star eats
When an Ochre Sea Star eats, it pries open a tiny crack in a shell fish, then inserts its whole flexible stomach into the shell and slowly digests and sucks out the animal.
The process can take 2 or
3 days.

5. How it produces Does not need a partner to produce
Fertilization occurs in the water column
The reproductive system consists of a pair of gonads branching into each ray off a circular genital strand which is along the oral inner surface of the central disc

6. Size
Ranges from 15 to 36 cm in diameter
Arms reach up to 10 to 25 cm

7. Habitat
Can be found in great numbers on mussel beds and on wave-washed rocky shores
The juveniles are often found in crevices and under rocks
Its depth range is from above the low-tide zone to 90 m in depth
They are very durable and can tolerate a loss of thirty-percent of its body weight in body fluids
Can find them in locations such as the Puget Sounds and areas in California. Mostly on the east coast

8. Interesting Facts
Ochre Sea Stars are a favorite food for otters and some sea birds
When the tide goes out, their skin and arms become stiff and hard, for protection from predators
When the tide comes back in and covers the Sea Stars, their arms become soft and flexible again so they can move around
These animals can be exposed to air for up to 50 hours if they are in the shade or among moist algae
Many live to a minimal age of four to six years and could live as long as twenty years