Its range extends from Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, through northwestern and northeastern Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, to the Central Pacific.

[2][3] Although the feeding habits of this starfish have not been studied, it is part of the order Valvatida, and starfish in this order typically evert their stomach to engulf and digest their food before retracting the stomach back into the disc, bringing the partially digested prey with it.

[2] Like other starfish, this species is likely to be able to reproduce asexually after splitting apart, with even pieces as small as one fifth of the original volume being able to regenerate as long as the madreporite is present.

Two types of brachiolaria larvae appear to exist; some develop from yolky eggs and are non-swimming and non-feeding, while others have cilia and can swim, but do not feed.

[2] The larvae are planktonic and drift with the currents for about four weeks before they need to find shallow water areas in which to settle, often at a considerable distance from their origins.