It is a deep-sea species found on seamounts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, at a depth of between 1,458–2,125 metres (4,783–6,972 ft).

[1][2] This generally orange asteroidea has seven long spiny arms, allowing them to be excellent suspension feeders in deep waters.

They extend their arms to catch food particles suspended in the water.

All known specimens of the species were observed attached to hexactinellid sponges, indicating a close, possibly commensal, relationship between both taxa.

Due to this apparent relationship with sponges, the species was named Astrolirus patricki as a reference to Patrick Star, an anthropomorphic starfish character from the SpongeBob SquarePants television series.