Akelbaster novaecaledoniae: Weird Starfish of the Month

Its been awhile since I've gotten something really echinodermatologically weird and so here we are:
Akelbaster novaecaledoniae Mah 2007 (click to see citation).

Where from: Off the shelf of New Caledonia in the South Pacific 225-400 m.

Taxonomic Breakdown: Asteroidea; Valvatacea; Valvatida; GONIASTERIDAE; Pentagonasterinae (related to the Australian Tosia and the Australian-NZ Pentagonaster).

The Name: The genus "Akelb-" is an anagram of the surname "Blake" and is named for Dr. Daniel Blake at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in honor of his contributions to starfish paleontology and evolution.
The Starfish: Actually...a pretty small animal. But almost perfectly pentagonal. Only about 2-3 cm diameter but... Wow. One of those animals that just doesn't look natural...

The Weirdness Pt 1: This thing is COVERED by PEDICELLARIAE. Pedicellariae are little claw-like like structures that starfish use to interact with it surroundings. But HOW different pedicellariae function in different animals is a mystery...
Pedicellariae are presnt on each top-facing marginal plate and even on the dorsal (i.e., the top) facing plates.
and then turn it over..and POOM!! A PANOPLY OF PEDICELLARIAE !!!

The pedicellariae also cover over almost ALL the ventral-facing plates. Each actinal plate with a complete bivalve pedicellariae!! What are all those little mouth-like pedicellariae things for?? I wish I could tell you.

The Weirdness pt. 2!! The strangeness continues!! When you turn the animal on its side and you can see these two little pits sitting at the junctures between the top (superomarginal) plate series and the bottom (inferomarginal) plate series.
Let's take a closer look at those pits after removing the superomarginal plate series:
What do these do?
Bear in mind-these are covered by tissue and in "real life" are very tiny.

Mini-current flow turbines? Filter feeding? Aracane Lovecraftian secrets hidden away amidst the armpits of goniasterid starfish?

What insidious new secret starfish stereom apparati await us?