Footage of hordes of rainbow-colored bat-wing starfish devouring sea lion carcasses on the ocean floor
#PHOTOGRAPHY#
At the bottom of California's ocean floor, an award-winning photographer captured this sad moment: dozens of colorful starfish were preparing to eat a lifeless sea lion. This award-winning photo highlights a key stage in the ocean food chain.
Wildlife photographer David Slater snapped this memorable photo in the shallow waters of Monterey Bay. With this particular photo, he recently won first place in the "Aquatic Life" category at the California Academy of Sciences BigPicture Photography Contest. Slater wrote on Instagram: "When I first posted this photo, I knew it was special, but I couldn't put into words how I felt about winning first place in such a prestigious competition." He added that the photo shows that "beauty and adventure can be found in unexpected places." ”
This work gave me my first glimpse of this starfish, a very special species, the Batwing Starfish (Patiria miniata), a variety of colors of scavenger starfish. Bat wing starfish get their name from the webbing that grows between their arms, similar to the wings of bats. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, this starfish usually has 5 arms, but may also have as many as 9, and they can reach a diameter of up to 8 inches (20 centimeters). They come in many colors, but the most common are red, orange, yellow, brown, green, or purple.
