Unlike other sea stars, the unusual Six-Rayed Sea Star has six, rather than five, broad arms. Living on rocky shores, it spends its life hiding beneath rocks and in crevices. The Six-Rayed Star's mottled green to brown or orange color blends into its surroundings. When mature at two years old, this creature is just four inches across.

The Six-Rayed Star feeds mostly in summer. It's a meat eater, preying on calorie-rich sea cucumbers, barnacles, mussels, limpets, snails and other small animals.

Another common name for the Six-Rayed is Brooding Sea Star. In winter, groups of these stars gather under rocks to spawn. Like other sea stars, this species has many tiny tube feet below its arms. The female attaches to a rock by the tips of these tube feet, forming a cup-shaped brooding area under the disk of her body. She lays golden-yellow eggs into this cup for the male to fertilize. For two months the female stays hunched in this brooding position without eating, moving only to clean and tend her eggs. Because she may hang upside down on tippy toes, holding her eggs, waves will sometimes dislodge her, washing the eggs out to sea. If she's successful in keeping her eggs until they hatch, the Brooding Sea Star will stay with the young a few more days. The miniature stars then become active and leave. The attention this creature gives her young is another of its unusual features.

While looking under beach rocks, be careful not to dislodge a brooding mother by accident. Carefully return stones just as you found them to protect the plants and animals living on and beneath.