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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The cushion star's mouth is in the middle of its underside.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Cushion star
- Scientific name
- Culcita novaeguineae
- Japanese name
- マンジュウヒトデ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Asteroidea
- Order
- Valvatida
- Family
- Oreasteridae
- Genus
- Culcita
A sea star that lives from Yakushima Island southward across the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific.
Young ones are star-shaped, but they become more and more ball-shaped as they grow.
How the Cushion star lives
It lives on offshore coral reef flats and rubble-covered seabeds. It eats organic matter in sand and similar material, as well as coral polyps.
Western Australian Museum天城町Basic data
- Range
- South of Yakushima, the Indian Ocean, and the western Pacific
Where the Cushion star has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- マンジュウヒトデ
- 简体中文
- 面包海星
- 繁體中文
- 麵包海星
- Français
- Etoile-coussin Pacifique
- Deutsch
- Großer Kissenstern
- Português (Brasil)
- Estrela-almofada-de-recife
- Italiano
- Stella cuscino orientale
- Русский
- Новогвинейская кульцита
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — マンジュウヒトデChecked: 2026-11-04
- Western Australian Museum — cushion star — Culcita novaeguineaeChecked: 2026-11-07
- 天城町 — マンジュウヒトデ ( Cushion star )Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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