page_title: Culcita novaeguineae
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Culcita novaeguineae / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: A cushion star (Culcita novaeguineae). Philippine Islands, Occidental Mindoro, Apo Reef.
context_page_description: Culcita novaeguineae is a species of starfish. It has short arms and an inflated appearance and resembles a pentagonal pincushion. It is variable in colour and can be found in tropical warm waters in the Indo-Pacific.
context_section_description: A mature C. novaeguineae is pentagonal to subglobose in shape with an inflated appearance and much-abbreviated arms. It can grow to a diameter of 30 cm (12 in). Rows of tube feet are on the underside, and it has a central mouth. The colour is very variable and includes a mottling with darker and lighter shades of fawn, brown, orange, yellow and green. The armoured body wall is made of calcareous ossicles which are supported internally by pillars which buttress the ambulacra. The armouring contains pits into which the tube feet can be retracted. The body cavity is filled with water. On the dorsal face, they can be covered with small conical tubercles, as well inside as outside of papular areas. 
  Small cushion stars are very different in appearance. They are star-shaped, with five short, broad arms and a low profile. As they grow, the inter-arm areas fill in and expand relative to the tube-feet areas, and the arms get shorter relative to the disc which becomes inflated and more massive.
caption: A Cushion star in Apo Reef, Philippines.
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