Asterias rathbuni is a starfish native to the Pacific coasts of Alaska in the United States[2][3] and Far East Russia.

[1][2][6] He commemorated Richard Rathbun, curator of marine invertebrates at the United States National Museum, in the specific epithet.

The variety anomala was described by Verrill in this 1909 work from St. Michael Island in the southeast of Norton Sound.

[4] Jangoux and Lawrence followed Djakonov in 2001, but recognised f. anomala as a synonym of the nominate, and classed alveolata and nortonensis as varieties of A. rathbuni ssp.

The dorsal skeleton is reticulated and rather weak, thus specimens preserved in alcohol are soft and flaccid.

[1] Verrill found it a quite distinct Asterias species within its range due to the finely and regularly areolated dorsal surface, the reticulated and flaccid skeleton, and small spines.

Compared with A. versicolor it has much more numerous, though smaller dorsal and lateral spines, these being differently arranged.

[6] Djakonov complies the distribution of Asterias rathbuni f. anomala, now considered a synonym of the nominate type, as off the Kamchatka peninsula and around the Commander Islands, east to the Shumagin Islands off Alaska, north to the Chukchi Sea, usually at depths of 20m, but in America specimens have been recovered down to 170m.

[4] The anomala form was originally recovered off St. Michael Island in the southeast of Norton Sound, Alaska.