A marine constellation - a dense aggregation of brittle stars

The boundary between sand habitat (on the right) and low profile reef habitat (on the left) in 90 metres depth in the Freycinet Marine Park. The boundary is marked by a distinct change in slope and a change from bare sand to a sandy/invertebrate turf cover. It is also often demarcated by dense clusters of brittle stars, potentially due to enhanced food availability due to enhanced current speeds or accumulation of detritus at the reef base. Generally these “relict coastline” reefs are very low profile as shown here, and have quite low invertebrate cover with few larger sponges.