History Main / StarfishAliens

** 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 ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack'' cartoon series kept up the traditions of the film.

* The Series/WaltDisneyPresents special "Mars & Beyond" has all sorts of bizarre takes on the possibility of alien life, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HIWq-DN-MU some silly]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ-T5VEueW0 others less so]].

* ''WesternAnimation/LoveDeathAndRobots'':
** In the 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 TakeOverTheWorld. It communicates both by speaking and spelling things out in granola.
** In the short "Beyond the Aquila Rift", again an adaptation of a short story by Alastair Reynolds, the main character is trapped in the hive of a terrifying, oozing, multi-eyed GiantSpider-like alien that claims to be a NonMaliciousMonster subjecting him to comforting psychic illusions to stop him [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Going Mad From The Revelation]].
* Most aliens in ''WesternAnimation/TrippingTheRift'', including the main protagonist Chod who is a purple monster with three eyes and tentacles.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':

** One episode involved the Trisolians, a race of ''liquid'' aliens that look like anthropomorphic blobs made of water. Fry accidentally consumed their emperor by drinking him from a cup.

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 [[BeastMan based off a particular Earth animal]]. InsectoidAliens effectively split the difference.

These are much more common in animation, video games, and literature than they are in live-action media, due to the likelihood of SpecialEffectsFailure. They are typically located towards hard science fictions, though when their biology becomes sufficiently improbable, they may soften it instead. When a story is told from the point of view of Starfish Aliens, and other decidedly non human creatures, it's {{Xenofiction}}.

Prone to enter GrotesqueGallery. May speak a StarfishLanguage. See also BizarreAlienBiology, StarfishRobots, and OurMonstersAreWeird. Compare EldritchAbomination (both tropes have some overlap). The {{Trope Namer|s}} is Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'', written in 1931, where the Elder Things are described as having starfish-like appendages.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation:

** ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'': Starro the Star Conqueror is a literal starfish alien whose spawn [[FaceFullOfAlienWingwong latch onto humans' faces]] so he can [[MindControl control their minds]].

** ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'': The ''Comicbook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' arc has B'ox - literally a living, sentient polyhedron - and one of the soldiers of [[Franchise/GreenLantern Atrocitus]], which resembles a giant, orange, fish-headed cricket.

** In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheUntoldStoryOfArgoCity'', Zygors are spacefaring aliens whose bodies are a round organic ball with one huge eye and a large maw to break up the asteroids which they feed from. Three long prehensile tentacles sprout from their bodies, and they are used to both feeding and moving around. Zygors can also shoot heat blasts, talk telepathically, and control minds.
** Martians in the DCU are quite monstrous to human eyes in their natural form and are telekinetic, telepathic shapeshifters.

** One of the regulars at Event Horizon in ''ComicBook/SuperboyAndTheRavers'' is some kind of {{Energy Being|s}} who can hold onto and wear shirts despite their lack of physical form.

* Except for a one-strip crossover with ''[[http://zeera.comicgenesis.com/ Zeera the Space Pirate]]'', all of the aliens in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' have been shown to be nonhumanoid, at least in their true forms. These include the [[SpacePirates Pirates of Ipecac,]] who resemble three-eyed lobsters; the Fleenians, who are [[RubberHoseLimbs rubber-limbed]] [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaurs]] with [[FacelessEye giant eyeballs for heads;]] and Ahem, who resembles a [[TripodTerror three-legged jellyfish.]] The [[InsectoidAliens butterfly-like Nemesites]] such as Princess Voluptua and Fructose Riboflavin frequently use [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting technology]] to appear human, however.

* Under his MobileSuitHuman(oid) exterior, Sam Starfall of ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' is [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1600/fc01551.htm a tentacular alien]] described as vaguely like an octopus, a lungfish, and a lamprey. The sight of his body tends to cause [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff100/fv00083.htm vomiting]], [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2800/fc02757.htm blank incomprehension]], or [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01274.htm delirious]] BrainBleach mode, though [[UnrevealAngle readers are spared the experience]].

* Website/GoodbyeStrangersAndTheFearfulFrontier is a sort of catalog of starfish critters: the eponymous strangers have no bones, brains or other internal organs, yet behave like living things. When dissected, they're revealed to be either hollow or stuffed with random objects and substances, such as calligraphy ink and various trash. No one understands exactly how these creatures work or ''why'' they exist in the first place.

* [[Website/GoodbyeStrangersAndTheFearfulFrontier]] is a sort of catalog of starfish critters: the eponymous strangers have no bones, brains or other internal organs, yet behave like living things. When dissected, they're revealed to be either hollow or stuffed with random objects and substances, such as calligraphy ink and various trash. No one understands exactly how these creatures work or ''why'' they exist in the first place.

* [[Website/{{STRANGERS}} S T R A N G E R S]] is a sort of catalog of starfish critters: the eponymous strangers have no bones, brains or other internal organs, yet behave like living things. When dissected, they're revealed to be either hollow or stuffed with random objects and substances, such as calligraphy ink and various trash. [[http://strangers.atrocityland.com/ The information page]] openly states that no one understands exactly how these creatures work or ''why'' they exist in the first place.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': The Hivers are vaguely starfish-like aliens with nonhuman physiologies, biologies, psychologies, society, and which reproduce by budding. Considered a challenge to role-play. Despite the name, they are not a HiveMind, nor are they BeePeople. The tag "hivers" was hung on them by a human who thought their buildings looked like beehives.

* ''WebOriginal/HamstersParadise'': The troglofauna living in the Sub-Arcuterran Cavern System are a number of different species with tentacled faces, [[EyelessFace no eyes]], multiple insect-like appendages used for either walking or as feelers, a life cycle similar to amphibians and the aquatic species have flexible snorkel-like nostrils for breathing. The twist is that they (like all vertebrates on HP-02017) are actually descended from hamsters and their bizarre appearance is the result of evolving in an a system of caves and tunnels. If one where to look at the animals living on the surface (also descended from hamsters) they would find creatures that [[FantasticFaunaCounterpart look much closer]] to what humans would think of as animals.

* Matt Howarth did an entire series about Konny and Kzu, neither of whom looks remotely human-like -- in fact, there are ''no'' humanoid aliens in the strip and books. The [[ShowWithinAShow Comic Within A Comic]] ''The Mighty Virus'' has a superheroic virus colony, complete with a [[TheCape cape]] hanging off of its flying environment globe.

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[[caption-width-right:310:[-[[http://michaeldashow.com/sockpuppet_large/ Possibly the friendliest way these guys can go.]]-] ]]

* The Hivers of ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' are vaguely starfish-like aliens with nonhuman physiologies, biologies, psychologies, society, and which reproduce by budding. Considered a challenge to role-play. Despite the name, they are not a HiveMind, nor are they BeePeople. The tag "hivers" was hung on them by a human who thought their buildings looked like beehives.
* ''TabletopGame/StarFrontiers'':
** The worm/salamander-like Syllix, the insectoid centaur Vrusk, and various other species, as well as the Kliks and ke'kekt from their other sci-fi property ''TabletopGame/StarDrive''.
** Yazirians are arguably {{Beast M|an}}en, 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/Warhammer40000'':
** Medusae, an HQ choice for the Dark Eldar, are parasitic creatures that resemble a "collection of brains and spinal cords that are stacked on one another" and use emotional trauma as a weapon.
** The background material lists several not seen in any armies, such as the Thyrrus, which resemble more pulsating bags of meat and tentacles than anything else, and the Umbra, which are essentially black orbs filled with goo, and are suggested to be simply "parts" of a larger interdimensional creature.
** The Hrud, who are apparently evolved from a worm-like creatures, resemble a set of interconnected spines in a vaguely humanoid shape. They can "walk" more or less vertically on two of these spines, use the other two as arms, are relatively pacifistic until disturbed (they usually infest lower levels of the imperial hive cities) and have a very advanced and enlightened religion that worship a deity, parts of which might be the aforementioned Umbra. That's not even touching on the entropic fields they generate, which rapidly age everything around them.
* The only humanoid aliens from the boardgame/rpg ''Battlestations'' are the humans.

** The 3.5 Edition supplement "Lords of Madness" describes aliens of forms various and sundry. These include: the Aboleth, hermaphrodite catfish/eel/squid spawn of the Far Realm with GeneticMemory; Illithidae, a genus of creatures related to the iconic mind flayers, a group that includes gigantic, pulsing, psionic brains and the deceptively innocuous mind flayer larvae; Tsochari, a parasitic lifeform from a cold and distant planet who enter and control the bodies and minds of spellcasters for some sinister purpose; the Silthilar, an ancient race of wizard-scientists who have transformed themselves into hive-minded swarms in response to a particularly virulent magical plague; and the Beholderkin, insane levitating spheres with [[EyesDoNotBelongThere many eyes in disturbing places]].
*** It also includes the "Fleshwarper", a prestige class which allows one to [[PowerCopying acquire traits]] from such creatures, eventually undergoing a transformation into a minor EldritchAbomination.
** Other D&D examples include many, if not most, extraplanar creatures. Most elemental entities (with the possible exception of genies) would qualify, as do most Outer Planes denizens.

* The [[Creator/HPLovecraft Migou]] from ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech''. Semi-fungoid, hyperintelligent insects who don't feel human emotions...except, of course, for the "fear-born genocidal hatred of anything that looks like it could be half as advanced as they are" part. Actually, scratch that. It's an insult to [[HumansAreBastards human assholes]] everywhere.
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: Space'' spends quite some time on how to design really weird aliens. The starfishiest designs are the various "exotica" such as living nebulae or sentient magnetic fields.

* ''TabletopGame/TeenagersFromOuterSpace'' divides aliens into three types: [[RubberForeheadAliens Near Humans]], Not Very Near Humans, and Real Weirdies, which usually fall under this trope.
* Flumphs in ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' are silly-looking intelligent floating jellyfish monsters from the Dark Tapestry (outer space, with CosmicHorrorStory influences). Unlike many Dark Tapestry creatures, flumphs are friendly to terrestrial life. Brethedans are large, intelligent floating creatures that resemble a cross between a blimp and a jellyfish, native to gas giant worlds. They don't favor technology, but can reshape their physiology to meet the demands of different situations.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' shard Heaven's Reach has the Kranix, who are described as a hard-shelled octopus. In classical Exalted, the demons known as agatae are enormous, incredibly beautiful rainbow wasps with inhuman mentalities.

* The Metisians of ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' are six tentacled, 'brain in a jar' style aliens who reproduce entirely by cloning.
* All of the aliens of ''TabletopGame/TwentyThreeHundredAD'' have strange biology that explains why they act as they do, from the adrenaline-junky ProudWarriorRace to the bizzarre PlantAliens.

** One of the regulars at Event Horizon in ''ComicBook/SuperboyAndTheRavers'' is some kind of EnergyBeing who can hold onto and wear shirts despite their lack of physical form.

* [[https://canopy.uc.edu/bbcswebdav/users/gibsonic/Snaiad/snduterus.html Snaiad]] is an ongoing xenobiology project by [[http://nemo-ramjet.deviantart.com Nemo Ramjet]] which covers the biosphere of a fictional extrasolar planet as catalogued by human colonists. A short list of the differences between Snaiadi and Terran vertebrates: Their skeletons are carbon-based rather than calcium based (making fossils rather hard to find, and bones an excellent source of fuel); a portion of their musculature structures are hydraulic instead of contractile, i.e. they push instead of pull; they have two heads, one for eating and one for reproduction; and a number of aquatic species move by way of biological jet engines, a quality they share with Earth octopuses, though still unique as far as vertebrates go. Front legs are optional.

These are much more common in animation, video games, and literature than they are in live-action media, due to the likelihood of SpecialEffectsFailure. They are typically located towards the "hard" end of the [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Sci-Fi Hardness Scale]], though when their biology becomes sufficiently improbable, they may soften it instead. When a story is told from the point of view of Starfish Aliens, and other decidedly non human creatures, it's {{Xenofiction}}.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' took advantage of being animated by introducing several non-humanoid aliens: Arex, the [[MultiArmedAndDangerous three-armed]] Edosian navigator; the Vendorians, shapeshifting giant squid things that took both the form and personalities of people they shifted into; the Phylosians, PlantAliens; the snail-like Lacterns. And several minor ones, like the pillbug-like Em/3/Green, known as a Nasat in the Expanded Universe. In a strange inversion of live-action, the {{Creator/Filmation}}'s animators found starfish aliens (especially those with no pesky arms or legs) to be much easier and less tribble - er, trouble to animate than human beings.

** The Symbiotes, or Klyntar, are a species of amorphous, shapeshifting parasitic entities -- of which the most famous members are ComicBook/{{Venom}} and ComicBook/{{Carnage}} -- that bond to a host and grant them superhuman abilities (and neat [[MySuitIsAlsoSuper superpowered costumes]) with a distinctly Lovecraftian flavor.

** The Symbiotes, or Klyntar, are a species of amorphous, shapeshifting parasitic entities -- of which the most famous members are ComicBook/{{Venom}} and ComicBook/{{Carnage}} -- that bond to a host and grant them superhuman abilities with a distinctly Lovecraftian flavor.

** ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' has had a few members. [[https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Ganglios_(Pre-Zero_Hour) Tellus]] is a yellow-skinned amphibian. Gates]] from the 90's continuity is a giant centipede. 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.

** ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' has had a few members. [[https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Ganglios_(Pre-Zero_Hour) Tellus]] is a yellow-skinned amphibian. Gates]] from the 90's continuity is a giant centipede. 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.

* Either unable to survive in Earth-like conditions, or able to survive nearly anywhere.