Leather Sea Star
Dermasterias imbricata
The leather star — sometimes also called the garlic star because of their characteristic smell — is a predatory sea star that forms unique relationships with other creatures in its intertidal habitat. Leather stars are often seen with scale worms, who hitch rides on the stars and eat even smaller worms as they travel together.
They largely prey on sea anemones and have soft and slippery skin due to a mucus coating.
Originally published: February 24, 2025
Last updated: February 24, 2025
Credit: Robin Riggs / Aquarium of the Pacific
SPECIES IN DETAIL
Leather Sea Star
Dermasterias imbricata
CONSERVATION STATUS: Not evaluated
CLIMATE CHANGE: Uncertain
Geographic Distribution
These sea stars live between Alaska and northern Mexico
Habitat
These sea stars live in shallow intertidal zones, rocky bottoms, and sandy seabeds. Though they’re typically found in shallow waters, they have been found down as deep as 100 meters (330 feet).
Physical Characteristics
Like many sea stars, leather stars have five arms surrounding their central disk. Their undersides are lined with tube feet, which help them move. On top of their bodies, they have several rows of papulae on each arm, which are small, finger-like projections on their bodies that help them breathe.
These sea stars have a mottled appearance, generally orange and red in color on top of more pale brown or gray margins.
Leather stars have very soft skin, and because they produce mucus, they feel slippery (like wet leather — hence, their name!). They produce a garlic-like smell detectable when they’re lifted out of the water. Sometimes this can also smell like spent gunpowder.
Size
Up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) across
Diet
Leather stars eat a range of invertebrates that share their habitat, including sea anemones, urchins, sea cucumbers, and sponges. Like many other sea stars, the leather star can feed by everting their stomachs — i.e., turning them inside out so that their stomachs are outside their bodies. They swallow their prey whole, then digest them internally.
Reproduction
Like many sea stars, leather stars are broadcast spawners. Females send yellow eggs into the water column, where they’re fertilized by sperm released by male leather stars.
Behavior
Leather sea stars are effective hunters and can travel up to 15 centimeters (nearly 6 inches) per minute. They often live in proximity to Arctonoe vittata, a scaleworm that hitches a ride on the leather star and eats smaller worms that they pass. The exact benefit to the leather stars is unknown.
Adaptation
These predatory sea stars have been known to take advantage of underwater structures like the long pontoons under certain boats and pilings that extend down in the water to support piers and buildings. They crawl up from the seafloor to colonize these new habitats. This can impact local undersea communities because invertebrates with the ability to strongly attach to substrate — like leather stars — can potentially outcompete macroalgae on underwater structures.
Longevity
It’s currently unknown how long leather stars can live.
Conservation
The IUCN doesn’t have a listed status for leather stars regarding their population trends and health. Leather stars are also more resilient than other species of star to sea star wasting disease, which causes tissue decay and eventual death of the sea star.
Special Notes
Leather stars secrete a layer of mucus that makes them feel like wet leather (hence their names)! They also have a unique relationship with the spotted swimming anemone Stomphia coccinea, which often curls up, expands, then detaches from the substrate and swims away after coming into contact with the predatory leather star.
SPECIES IN DETAIL | Print full entry
Leather Sea Star
Dermasterias imbricata
CONSERVATION STATUS: Not evaluated
CLIMATE CHANGE: Uncertain
These sea stars live between Alaska and northern Mexico
These sea stars live in shallow intertidal zones, rocky bottoms, and sandy seabeds. Though they’re typically found in shallow waters, they have been found down as deep as 100 meters (330 feet).
Like many sea stars, leather stars have five arms surrounding their central disk. Their undersides are lined with tube feet, which help them move. On top of their bodies, they have several rows of papulae on each arm, which are small, finger-like projections on their bodies that help them breathe.
These sea stars have a mottled appearance, generally orange and red in color on top of more pale brown or gray margins.
Leather stars have very soft skin, and because they produce mucus, they feel slippery (like wet leather — hence, their name!). They produce a garlic-like smell detectable when they’re lifted out of the water. Sometimes this can also smell like spent gunpowder.
Up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) across
Leather stars eat a range of invertebrates that share their habitat, including sea anemones, urchins, sea cucumbers, and sponges. Like many other sea stars, the leather star can feed by everting their stomachs — i.e., turning them inside out so that their stomachs are outside their bodies. They swallow their prey whole, then digest them internally.
Like many sea stars, leather stars are broadcast spawners. Females send yellow eggs into the water column, where they’re fertilized by sperm released by male leather stars.
Leather sea stars are effective hunters and can travel up to 15 centimeters (nearly 6 inches) per minute. They often live in proximity to Arctonoe vittata, a scaleworm that hitches a ride on the leather star and eats smaller worms that they pass. The exact benefit to the leather stars is unknown.
These predatory sea stars have been known to take advantage of underwater structures like the long pontoons under certain boats and pilings that extend down in the water to support piers and buildings. They crawl up from the seafloor to colonize these new habitats. This can impact local undersea communities because invertebrates with the ability to strongly attach to substrate — like leather stars — can potentially outcompete macroalgae on underwater structures.
It’s currently unknown how long leather stars can live.
The IUCN doesn’t have a listed status for leather stars regarding their population trends and health. Leather stars are also more resilient than other species of star to sea star wasting disease, which causes tissue decay and eventual death of the sea star.
Leather stars secrete a layer of mucus that makes them feel like wet leather (hence their names)! They also have a unique relationship with the spotted swimming anemone Stomphia coccinea, which often curls up, expands, then detaches from the substrate and swims away after coming into contact with the predatory leather star.