It is mainly found on the east coast of South America, ranging from Cabo Frio, Brazil to Mar del Plata, Argentina.

A. stellifera is an omnivorous generalist predator, and modifies the abundance of other invertebrates and algae in subtidal marine communities.

Tube feet are used to move around, they can attach to all different surfaces, feeding by passing food along the arms and to the mouth which is located at the center of the organism and for respiration.

At the beginning of reproduction, many starfish belonging to the asteroid species form aggregations, nothing has been researched for A. stellifera but it can be assumed they would also mate like this.

The accelerating development of Mar del Plata shoreline for industry, agriculture, and tourism during the last decade is degrading coastal ecosystems by habitat disturbance and pollution.

[1] They studied the relationship between male and female organ wet weights with seawater temperature, salinity, monthly mean precipitation, and day-length.

This was different than what had been previously discovered, electron microscopic studies of various tissues containing mucus-secreting cells all showed a lack of an organized structure.