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Photos of sponges, Cron of thorns starfish, Feather star, Sea fan, Cushion star, Multicolored nudibranches, Tubeworm, Sea squirts, Sea star, Sea urchin, and Christmas tree.(Seite 1)Sponges look like plants, grow like plants, but they are animals. In many forms and sometimes shining in bright colours, they often house worms, Feather Stars, crabs and fish The Crown-of-Thorns Starfish has toxic spines and 11 to 17 arms and is notorious for its reef destruction. The Acropora species are especiallythreatened by it. At the Great Barrier Reef and in different places of the Pacific, its mass occurrence has caused devastating damage to live corals. A natural enemy of the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish is the Giant Triton (Charonia tritonis), an extremely beautiful snail. Sea Lilies and Feather Stars belong to the eye-catching inhabitants of the reef as well. They are often found in exposed positions with strong currents, where they catch micro-plankton. The Cushion Star (Culeita novaguineae) does not correspond to the image of a Starfish The arms of the cushion-like body are reduced to five just recognizable blunt edges. The Cushion Star – its colouring is variable – reaches a diameter of up to 25 centimetres and grazes corals. A common nudibranch is the Pyjama Slug or Multicoloured Nudibranch (Chromodoris quadricolor). It only reaches a size of approximately five centimetres and ingests its decorative colours with the food. Tubeworms (Sabellastarte sp.)are sedentary and live in a “house tube.†They are found in variations of all sizes and colours. Sea Squirts (Botrylloides sp.) are found in all marine habitats. In order to filter the vital plankton, they generate a water flow. On the reefs of the Red Sea you also find the colourful Pyjama Slug or Multicoloured Nudibranch (Chromodoris quadricolor) and an eye-catching Starfish (Gomophia egyptica). The Sea Urchin (Asthenosoma varium) is extraordinarily decorative, but its spines are strongly toxic. The differently coloured tentacle crowns of the Christmas Tree Worms (Spirobrachus giganteus) are spirally wound and look like small Christmas trees. With the tentacle crowns they catch micro-plankton. They are drawn in at the slightest disturbance.
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