Diver's Bane

The Diver's Bane is the largest starfish known to exist. It is a voracious predator and a notorious hazard of the oyster reefs near the island of Lahat. Each year, several pearl divers fall victim to the creature - many disappearing without a trace. Its Dilauti name, Bunga'lumut, means Graveflower, a reference to its beauty and its lethality.

Beautiful and Deadly

The Diver's Bane can grow to immense size, with the largest specimens reaching nearly eleven feet across. These giants weigh over two hundred and fifty pounds and typically possess twenty or more arms radiating from a central mass. Younger individuals usually have fewer arms; the largest ever recorded had twenty-seven.

Like most starfish, the Diver's Bane has a mesh-like internal skeleton that protects its internal organs. Its upper surface is covered in sharp spines - stiff, needle-like structures capable of perforating soft tissue with ease. Each spine can also inject a paralytic toxin, which the creature uses to disable its prey.

The underside of the arms is lined with rows of tube feet, granting the Diver's Bane remarkable speed and allowing it to grasp objects or living creatures as easily as fingers. Its limbs are more flexible than they appear and will curl around a paralyzed prey animal, holding it tightly in place for consumption.

An ambush predator, the Diver’s Bane is highly adept at camouflage. Much like an octopus, it can shift the color and texture of its skin to blend into its surroundings. Alternatively, it may display a brilliant warning pattern to deter threats. Its palette includes vivid reds, yellows, greens, oranges, and blues, often arranged in a swirling, kaleidoscopic display when signaling danger.

A Tiny Beginning

While the Diver's Bane grows to an enormous size, it starts very small. This starfish is a broadcast spawner - it releases eggs or sperm into the surrounding water, never coming into contact with a mate. Millions of eggs may be fertilized during a single spawning event, and hundreds of thousands of those hatch before being eaten.

The larval form of the Diver's Bane resembles a tiny worm, with rows of cilia along its sides that it uses to propel itself through the water. Unlike the adult, the larva is bilaterally symmetrical; it only adopts radial symmetry after metamorphosis.

The larval stage can last up to a year. During this time, the larvae are minuscule and feed on drifting plankton. Most do not survive. As the larval period ends, the creature attaches itself to a rock, shell, or other solid surface using a short stalk tipped with a sucker. Once anchored, it undergoes a radical internal transformation: its tissues reorganize, upper and lower surfaces develop, and arms begin to grow outward from the central body. This marks the shift from bilateral to radial symmetry.

At the end of this metamorphosis, it abandons the stalk and sets off across the seafloor as a fully formed - though still tiny - starfish. It will grow steadily larger over the next several decades, with the survivors eventually reaching the incredible size for which the species is famous.

Nightmare on the Reef

When a prey animal - such as an unwary pearl diver - comes too close to a hidden Diver's Bane, it lashes out with an arm to pierce the skin and deliver its venom. It is extremely fast and rarely misses. The venom causes the prey’s muscles to seize, locking the body in place within seconds. In the case of an air-breathing animal, this paralysis prevents the lungs from expanding - precluding drowning, as the victim is no longer able to draw in water or air.

Once the prey is immobilized, the Graveflower seizes it with several arms and pulls it toward its mouth, located at the center of its underside. If the creature is small enough to swallow whole, it will do so. But even the largest specimens cannot consume an adult human in one piece. For larger prey, the Diver's Bane everts one of its stomachs to digest the victim externally.

The stomach emerges from its mouth as a pale, slick organ, extending several feet. It clings to and envelops anything held near the mouth, beginning digestion almost immediately. The Diver's Bane prefers to consume the softest, most easily digested tissues first - on humans, this typically means the head.

There are a few firsthand accounts of this experience, recorded by those who were rescued at the last moment from the embrace of the Graveflower. One such survivor gave the following account:

"I felt the sting - like a hot needle through my arm. And then everything cramped - starting with the muscles in my arm, and then everywhere. I couldn't move at all, and I thought the pain from the cramping was the worst thing I'd ever feel. My lungs were bursting, and my heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest. I would've screamed, if I could.

Then the thing grabbed me. I barely felt the tentacles - the pain was already so bad. It pulled me under its body, toward its mouth. It was just a round hole - no teeth, just an opening about the size of my hand. Then it vomited up this sack - all fleshy and slick and pale, like the inside of an egg. It pulled my face into it, and I felt it cling to me, sliding along my skin. I wanted to close my eyes - but I couldn't.

That's when it began to burn. Only for a second or two - then my dad pulled me free. But that burning made the cramps seem like nothing. My stomach churned like I was going to vomit, but I couldn't even retch. I was lucky to survive. And while my vision isn't good anymore, at least I can still see, a little.

I don't go in the water any more."