---
title: "Northern Pacific Sea Star"
description: "Asterias amurensis — Other animals. Asterias amurensis, also known as the Northern Pacific seastar and Japanese common starfish, is a seastar found in shallow seas and estuaries, native to the coasts of northern China, Korea, far eastern Russia, Japan, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and British Columbia in Canada."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/northern-pacific-sea-star
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Northern Pacific Sea Star

> Asterias amurensis — Other animals. Asterias amurensis, also known as the Northern Pacific seastar and Japanese common starfish, is a seastar found in shallow seas and estuaries, native to the coasts of northern China, Korea, far eastern Russia, Japan, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and British Columbia in Canada.

- Scientific name: *Asterias amurensis*
- Category: `other` (Other animals)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 1754
- Wikidata: [Q1140786](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1140786)
- iNaturalist taxon: [152977](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/152977)

## Names

- en: Northern Pacific Sea Star
- es: Estrella de mar japonesa

## Countries with the most observations

AU (1117), RU (278), CN (106), US (54), JP (38), KR (27)

## Summary

Asterias amurensis, also known as the Northern Pacific seastar and Japanese common starfish, is a seastar found in shallow seas and estuaries, native to the coasts of northern China, Korea, far eastern Russia, Japan, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and British Columbia in Canada. Two forms are recognised: the nominate and forma robusta from the Strait of Tartary. It mostly preys on large bivalve molluscs, and it is mostly preyed on by other species of starfish. Population booms in Japan can affect the harvest of mariculture operations and are costly to combat.
This species has been introduced to oceanic areas of southern…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterias_amurensis

## Photo

![Northern Pacific Sea Star](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/northern-pacific-sea-star/medium.jpg)

Photo: Lycoo · Public domain · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/152977

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/northern-pacific-sea-star?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).