Heliaster is a genus of Asteroidea (sea stars) in the family Heliasteridae.
[1] Whole specimens of Heliaster microbrachius have been found preserved in calcite-cemented quartz in Southwest Florida that dates to the Pliocene, 3.5 to 2.5 million years ago (Castilla et al. 2013).
Today H. microbrachius is found only in the Pacific Ocean: on the coast of Panama, and Acapulco in Mexico.
This suggests that greater connection between the two oceans gave the species a more extensive range in the past (Castilla et al. 2013).
This article about a starfish is a stub.