Asterias

Asterias is a genus of the Asteriidae family of sea stars. It includes several of the best-known species of sea stars, including the (Atlantic) common starfish, Asterias rubens, and the northern Pacific seastar, Asterias amurensis. The genus contains a total of eight species in all. All species have five arms and are native to shallow oceanic areas (the littoral zone) of cold to temperate parts of the Holarctic. These starfish have planktonic larvae. Asterias amurensis is an invasive species in Australia and can in some years become a pest in the Japanese mariculture industry.

==History== The genus Asterias was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758 when he published A. rubens. It was for a time the only species, but by the early 1800s a few dozen taxa had been described in this genus.