The body of the starfish is 12-24 centimeters in diameter, but size varies greatly from species to species, with a range of 1-80 centimeters in diameter.

The body is yellowish brown, but some species have bright red, orange, blue, purple, or a mixture of several colors. The body is five-star shaped, as in the case of the sea plate car, with five carapaces extending outward from a central disk.

Solar starfish can have up to 40 carapaces. In most species, the carapace is wider near the central disk, tapering at the end, and in a few it is similar. Carapace length is generally 1-3 times the diameter of the central disk, but some carapaces are up to 4-5 times longer.?

In some species the carpus is so short as to give the body a pentagonal shape, as in the bread starfish. The central area from the carpus to the central disk is called the step-band area, or radial area.

Extended information:

Starfish are dioecious and **** have 10 reproductive glands, each consisting of a cluster of vesicular tubes. In the immature stage the glands are small and are located at the base of the five carpals. In the reproductive stage, the glands are large and fill almost the entire carapace.

The reproductive glands are often white in males and more orange in females, and each gland has a reproductive pore located on the central disk at the base of the carapace on the antral surface. Maple starfish have many gonads per carpus, arranged in rows, with the genital pores opening on the oral surface.

A few species are hermaphrodites, such as a species of petrel, but the males are precocious, i.e., they produce male reproductive cells at a young age, and become female individuals at an older age, producing eggs.