History Main / StarfishAliens

* The Gauna from ''Manga/KnightsOfSidonia'' are masses of regenerating/shapeshifting flesh surrounding an indestructible True Body. They live comfortably in space either as individuals or as huge aggregates called Mass Union Ships, and are capable of assuming any shape, even replicating inorganic technology. They [[ItCanThink demonstrate intelligence]] beyond simple animal instincts, but humanity has been unable to communicate with them in any way beyond violence. In turn, it's been suggested that the reason they try to devour humans indiscriminately is because ''they're'' trying to communicate and don't understand how humans work either.

** The original foe of the ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', Starro the Star Conqueror, is -- surprise, surprise! -- a literal Starfish Alien whose spawn [[FaceFullOfAlienWingwong latch onto humans' faces]] so he can [[MindControl control their minds]].

** ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' has had a few members. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tellus_%28comics%29 Tellus]] is the best example from the original continuity. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_%28comics%29 Gates]] from the rebooted continuity. The Gil'dishpan race vaguely resemble psychic purple tubeworms with club-tails floating in water-filled orbs. The Durlans were initally shown as orange humanoids with antennae, but since they're {{Voluntary Shapeshifter}}s it was very easy for later writers to declare this was AFormYouAreComfortableWith and their ShapeshifterDefaultForm was actually a mass of tentacles in a robe.
** During Creator/AlanMoore's legendary run on ''Comicbook/SwampThing'', the eponymous hero encountered a sentient biomechanical planetoid, which proceeded to rape him.

* Franchise/MarvelUniverse:

* ''Literature/ThePentagonWar'': Alpha Centaurians are shaped like a cross between xorns from TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons and R2-D2 from ''Franchise/StarWars''. They have muscle-powered wheels in their feet, a 360 degree eye stalk, and four mouths spaced evenly below and between their four shoulders.

!!Examples:

* The inhabitants of the Moon in the middle segment of the ''Podcast/TwilightHistories'' episode “The Moon” are this. They range from what appears to be sentient cluster of ribbon to creatures that look like evacuated bat-people. Notably, none of them communicate verbally, though they do use vibrations and sight to communicate.

* The [=VXX199=] of ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri''. Unlike the Horde PlanetLooters who preceded them, the VXX199 are composed of millions of completely alien lifeforms of varying intelligence, in a ship that's a giant conglomeration of living tissue, all driven by the ship's own biological AI. It's like if Terry Gilliam directed a cyberpunk thriller with H.R. Giger as the art designer.

* Radiotrophic fungi have been found living inside the destroyed reactor #4 at Chernobyl. Also, scientists at Savannah River found a species of extremophile bacteria living *inside a nuclear waste tank*[[note]]Other examples are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans Deinococcus radiodurans]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermococcus_gammatolerans Thermococcus gammatolerans]], the radiation tolerance of either can be reasonably given in kilogray![[/note]]. The evolutionary adaptations that allow these organisms to survive extreme levels of hard radiation are the same adaptations that allow them to survive dessication.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/imagesjpeg_2_8.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Perhaps they just want a friendly high-seven?]]

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dashow_sockpuppet.png]]
[[caption-width-right:310:[-[[http://michaeldashow.com/sockpuppet_large/ Possibly the friendliest way these guys can go.]]-] ]]

** In the FlashForward to the next universe in ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk, the main character is a member of a species that look like vertically oriented flatworms with [[RaymanianLimbs detatched]] flower-like limbs.

* The Mercurians in ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}''. While Venusians and Jovians might look alien, they are simply modified humans. Mercurians, on the other hand, are the descendants of the [[TheVirus runaway nanoweapon]] who are so disconnected from our mode of thinking and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality understanding of good and bad]], that their [[StarfishLanguage attempt at contact]] is a mindless monster that attacks everything with its huge maw and GagPenis.

These Starfish Aliens are ''really'' alien aliens. They may have:

These '''Starfish Aliens''' are ''really'' alien aliens. They may have:

* * ''WebVideo/AlienBiospheres'' is a youtube series dedicated to the speculative evolution of a planet of these, using the principles of actual real world evolution. One family of creatures breathes through two holes ''on either side of it's head'' that '''''used to be tentacles'''''.

* The Fiddlers from ''Literature/SpotsTheSpaceMarine''.
* Alpha Centaurians in ''Literature/ThePentagonWar'' are shaped like a cross between xorns from TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons and R2-D2 from StarWars. They have muscle-powered wheels in their feet, a 360 degree eye stalk, and four mouths spaced evenly below and between their four shoulders.

* The VXX199 of ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri''. Unlike the Horde PlanetLooters who preceded them, the VXX199 are composed of millions of completely alien lifeforms of varying intelligence, in a ship that's a giant conglomeration of living tissue, all driven by the ship's own biological AI. It's like if Terry Gilliam directed a cyberpunk thriller with H.R. Giger as the art designer.

* ''FanFic/AsukaQuest'' has the Angels nicknamed Giant Alien Starfish because they're actually this trope rather than anything actually religious in nature, so the original name came off as pretentious.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', it's zigzagged. Gems are a race of mineral life who're "born" humanoid, but their bodies are just [[HardLight projections]] from their [[HeartDrive Gems]]. Thanks to this, they can temporarily shapeshift; though it always shares their natural color scheme. They are TheAgeless and only "die" when their gems are shattered. They don't reproduce naturally; rather, gems are artificially created underground and molded to have certain characteristics, like a larger mass for their light-body (but remaining too long in incubation can reverse this and cause their own form of dwarfism). In addition, Gems are able to fuse together and the more gems that are fused, the less humanoid their projections appear. The aliens in "Jungle Moon" are straighter examples, including a [[BigCreepyCrawlies dog-sized beetle]], a hoofed, humped dinosaur, and a beanbag with a beak and talons on the end of tentacles.

* Some kind of language, not necessarily verbal, we can learn to interpret (or [[StarfishLanguage maybe not]], but we can at least recognize it as a language).
* Culture

* In the Netflix short "When the Yogurt Took Over", adapted from the John Scalzi story of the same name, scientists accidentally create sentience in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a pot of yogurt]], which proceeds to conquer the world. It communicates both by speaking and spelling things out in granola.

[[folder:Fan Works]]

[[folder:Pinballs]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

SuperTrope to OctopoidAliens. The inverse of HumanAliens or RubberForeheadAliens. Aliens that don't look like humans, but still have basically the same body type are HumanoidAliens, or {{Intelligent Gerbil}}s, if they're obviously [[PettingZooPeople based off a particular Earth animal]]. InsectoidAliens effectively split the difference.

** Yazirians are arguably PettingZooPeople, but the Sathar and Dralasites might fit. Sathar are sentient, humanoid invertebrates who seem to be a human - sized cross between an earthworm and a squid, and due to their nonhuman psychology are an NPC-only race. Dralasites have surprisingly humanlike personalities but are physically the strangest of all, being fully sapient amoeba-like multicellular organisms, and reproducing by budding.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':