page_title: Solaster endeca
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Solaster endeca / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: English: Purple sun stars (Solaster endeca) at the New England Aquarium, Boston MA.
context_page_description: The purple sunstar, northern sunstar, or smooth sun star, Solaster endeca, is a species of starfish in the family Solasteridae.
context_section_description: The purple sun star occurs in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea at depths to 450 m (1,480 ft). Its typical habitats are muddy sand, gravel, or rocky areas with deposited sediment. It is found in both sheltered and fairly exposed locations. It also has a circumboreal distribution and is found round the coasts of Greenland, northeastern Canada, and the East Coast of the United States as far south as the Gulf of Maine. In the Baltic Sea it is a vulnerable species. It also occurs in the northeastern Pacific Ocean between northern Alaska and Puget Sound.
caption: S. endeca at the New England Aquarium, Boston
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