Ok, we admit that we find most seastars pretty ugly, but there are native seastars in the bay that deserve to be there, and unfortunately there are now other seastars in the bay that should never have ended up here. Most people are aware that they are supposed (in fact legally required) to remove any 'illegitimate' starfish from the water, but do you know which is the good, and which is the bad?
To assist Melbourne's boaties and our bay's precious environment, SKMC is pleased to provide information below to help ensure that only the offending introduced seastars are removed, whilst the local native critters are left unharmed.
There are quite a few types of seastars/starfish in the bay, and it can sometimes be difficult to identify the good from the bad. Generally the most common seastars you'll find are:
The Eleven Leg Seastar - The Good
and
The Northern Pacific Seastar - The Bad
The rule of thumb is that any starfish with 5 legs that end in pointed upturned tips should be removed from the water immediately.
For comprehensive information on identifying all the Bay's seastars please see the Department of Sustainability and the Environment here.
For a printable pdf on identifying the Bay's seastars, click here.
St Kilda Marina Club is happy to provide a laminated reference card on the Bay's seastars at no charge.
If you would like to receive one of our seastar info cards simply contact us via our contact page and we'll post one out to you!
We encourage you to keep it on your boat for easy reference when required.
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