{"id":59,"date":"2026-05-19T08:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/?p=59"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:18:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:18:50","slug":"starfish-and-sea-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/echinoderm-posts\/starfish-and-sea-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfish and Sea Stars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover alignfull\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim-100 has-background-dim has-background-gradient\" style=\"background:linear-gradient(135deg,rgb(1,1,1) 0%,rgba(155,81,224,0) 100%)\"><\/span><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"663\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Sea-stars-are-making-a-comeback-e1779180416357.jpg\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-post-image\" alt=\"sea star washed up\" data-object-fit=\"cover\" \/><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-cover-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading alignfull has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\"><strong>Starfish<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Echinoderms with a beautiful shape unlike any other, with a strange yet captivating method of survival<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-fe9cc265 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile has-primary-background-color has-background\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/comet-starfish-regenerating-595539277-571e59965f9b58857d04f6b0-460327344-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"comet starfish regeneration\" class=\"wp-image-101 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-base-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2aa03174343250286df25ea26dfb1dc2\">This is a comet starfish regenerating four limbs, the regeneration process can be observed by comparing the length of the arms.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Regeneration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"576\" data-id=\"102\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-s.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-102\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-s.jpg 576w, https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-s-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-s-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Blue Linckia<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"638\" height=\"436\" data-id=\"103\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/choco-starfish.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-103\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/choco-starfish.jpg 638w, https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/choco-starfish-300x205.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Chocolate Chip Starfish<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"773\" data-id=\"104\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-1790686811-3fa3efde3ae94e989718fa91f71d5704-819516955-e1779358583755-1024x773.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-104\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-1790686811-3fa3efde3ae94e989718fa91f71d5704-819516955-e1779358583755-1024x773.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-1790686811-3fa3efde3ae94e989718fa91f71d5704-819516955-e1779358583755-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-1790686811-3fa3efde3ae94e989718fa91f71d5704-819516955-e1779358583755-768x579.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-1790686811-3fa3efde3ae94e989718fa91f71d5704-819516955-e1779358583755-1536x1159.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-1790686811-3fa3efde3ae94e989718fa91f71d5704-819516955-e1779358583755.jpg 1930w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Crown of Thorns Starfish<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"563\" data-id=\"105\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sunflower-sea-star-janna-nichols-1-2596285575.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-105\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sunflower-sea-star-janna-nichols-1-2596285575.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sunflower-sea-star-janna-nichols-1-2596285575-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Sunflower Starfish<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6,10],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-echinoderm-posts","tag-echinoderm","tag-starfish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brianallen.matmcc.org\/Final\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}