Once we started going through the pictures from our June trip to the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary we couldn’t identify one creature.  We poured through our books, went online and thought we had it narrowed down – but it didn’t make sense.

Nail Sea Star, FGBNMS

The species we identified was an indo-pacific sea star (starfish).  We sent the images to a marine biologist acquaintance and also to the research coordinator for the FGBNMS.  Sure enough, that was the first recorded sighting ever at the FGBNMS of a mithrodia clavigera – a Nail Sea Star!  Our names are now added to the species list as the ones who first sighted it in the FGBNMS.  That very first picture, taken by us, is featured on the NOAA Flower Garden Banks NMS species list and can be seen here.

Bonus: As a result of our find we were invited to attend the FGBNMS coral spawning trip with the Women Divers Hall of Fame group in August. This once in a lifetime trip was absolutely amazing.