Starfish and Sea Stars

sea star washed up

Starfish

Echinoderms with a beautiful shape unlike any other, with a strange yet captivating method of survival

Starfish or sea stars are marine invertebrates belonging to the echinoderm phylum, inhabiting seabeds and oceans worldwide. Starfish earned their names due to their unique star shaped bodies unlike any other animal, common starfish possess five arms in total with some species even possessing more such as the sunflower starfish. Starfish alike all have tube arms located underneath each of their arms, starfish are also able to digest their prey by ejecting their own stomach out from their underside. Brittle stars are also a relative of the starfish and belong to the same phylum, but are noticeably different from each other due to their varying body structure.

comet starfish regeneration

Regeneration

Starfish have the unique ability to regrow lost limbs with relative ease, if they were to lose a limb to predation for example they would simply be able to slowly but surely regrow their lost limb with varying amounts of time needed depending on circumstances. This can most often be observed through photos of starfish with one arm that is noticeably smaller or one arm that is much larger than the rest of the body, this happens because whichever limb is currently being regrown has had less time to develop compared to whatever part of the body was preserved.

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