Interesting Facts About Starfish

It was a beautiful day at sea when Andrea went for a walk by the seaside. The tiny waves lapped around her feet teasing her to enter the sea. Little Andrea knew about the perils at sea and preferred to hop about scrounging for beautiful seashells, which she would store at home, and add to her abundant collection. This was the day she encountered a curiously shaped sea creature lying embedded in the sand, almost washed out on the shore. This sea creature had 5 arms and looked really beautiful. Although Andrea wanted to take this sea creature home, her instincts warned her against it. Filled with curiosity, she stood looking at it for a long time till a large wave came crashing towards her and stole the sea creature back to the sea. Little Andrea rushed home eagerly to tell everyone about this mysterious 5-armed star in the sea!

The starfish are found in many varieties and belong to the class Asteroidea. Their radial symmetry with five or more arms is what makes them distinctive from other sea animals.

Interesting Facts about Starfish:
Starfish are also known as sea stars and are not really fish despite the name been given to them. These are echinoderms, which are found abundant in the deep blue seas and shallow waters as well.

The characteristic feature of the starfish is the 5 (or even more) arms. The surface of these arms is often spiky in appearance.

If you have ever encountered a starfish and turned it over, you will find projections on the underside. These are known as tube feet, which serve two basic functions – one being able to move around the ocean floor and the other to open up a scallop or clam.

An interesting fact about the starfish is that it has two stomachs. The cardiac stomach can help the starfish to engulf food outside its body. When the cardiac stomach comes back into the body, the food in it is transferred to the pyloric stomach.

The tube feet play an important role in helping the starfish to procure its food. The tube feet are used to open up the oysters or clams. Then the stomach is extended into the shell to pull the food inside.

Have you ever tried locating the mouth of a starfish? It is located on the ventral surface, underneath the upper surface.

The total number of species of the starfish is a mind-boggling number of around 1800! This would represent only the various kinds of starfish have been discovered till date.

Starfish are found in all the oceans around the world. A large variety of the same is seen in the tropical area of the Indo-Pacific. These also live in the coral reefs and seabeds that are really at great depths. Starfish are never found in fresh water.

The Coscinasterias Calamaria also known as the eleven-armed sea star has an armspread that can go up to 30 cm. As the name suggests, it does have eleven arms but there are times when the number can go up to 14.

The starfish have microscopic eyes at the end of each arm; this enables the starfish to view movement and differentiate between light and dark.

Most starfish have a spiky surface as a means of protection. The crown-of-thorns starfish is known for its thorny spines that are present all over the body.

The patterns seen in a starfish are many. Bright colors and stripes occur often in case of starfish.

In case a starfish loses its arm, it is capable of regenerating the same!

These interesting facts about starfish tell us quite a story about the kind of life that exists beneath the sea! From the complex, to the most beautiful, the life beneath the sea has a completely new world in store for us.