Starfish

These starfish specimens were collected in the Indian Ocean on 20 January 1874. They are a fraction of the specimens collected during the voyage of HMS Challenger. Between 1872 and 1876, HMS Challenger undertook an exploratory voyage of the ocean which laid the foundations for modern oceanography.

Starfish in the wild come in many different colours. These four have been bleached by preservation in alcohol over the years. They come from Walter Percy Sladen's collection. Sladen was an expert on echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins and other similar species). He wrote nearly 1,000 pages describing the starfish collected during the voyage.

You can find out more about the voyage of HMS Challenger on RAMM’s collections site.

Visual description: Four starfish of different sizes fastened to a black board. A creamy-white colour, they stand out against the dark background. A rectangular label identifies the species and collection location underneath. The label reads: ‘Asterias meridionalis, Perrier. Off Royal Sound, Kerguelen Island, Indian Ocean, 28 fathoms, on volcanic mud. "Challenger" Expedition, Station 149 D. Sladen Collection.’