With blunt arms, spiny tubercles on the central plates and what appears to be bivalved pedicellariae, this is possible Gymnanthenea laevis, one of several sea star species that can be found intertidally in Singapore. The pedicellariae are supposed to behave like clamps or jaws on stalks, like miniature monsters on a dermal landscape of coarse spines, rude knobs and oozing madreporites. I saw little action on this skin, however; maybe this star didn't deem my duck worthy enough on which to waste its minute arsenal. Bits of its guts were sticking out when I turned the star over, indicating that the animal was busy having breakfast in conjunction with its daily constitutional...
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