Meeting the beautiful starfish

Starfish are among the best known of marine animals. Despite its name, the starfish is not a fish, it is an echinoderm, closely related to sea urchins.

The marine stars possess a series of widely known characteristics, such as their self-regeneration, a wide diversity of body shapes and feeding methods. They have calcified skin, which protects them from most predators, and many use colors that camouflage them or flashy colors to scare possible attackers.

The "sea stars", as they are commonly called, are exclusively marine animals, there is no fresh water and only a few live in brackish waters. The marine stars are radially symmetrical and tend to have pentaradial symmetry when they are adults. However, several species often have six or more arms. Several groups of stars have 10-15 arms, while some species, such as Labidiaster Annulatus Antarctica can have a maximum of 50.

Most stars have the remarkable ability to consume prey outside their bodies, they have suction discs that they use to maintain and force the opening of mollusk shells. Once a shell has been opened, the marine stars extend the membranes of the stomach through the mouth, insert them in the opening of the shell, and secrete digestive juices that break down the body of the shellfish into a form that can be absorbed by the membranes. of the stomach. The marine stars without suction discs swallow their whole prey and expel the parts that are not digestible.

The thorns of a starfish are very sharp, if eaten, can cause the predator many pains; that is why many predators avoid the stars, however, some animals such as king crabs, sea otters and seagulls eat starfish. Somehow, they seem to be able to handle the spines of the sea star and their bony plates.

This animal does not have a head, nor does it have a brain. However, you do not need a brain to feel what is happening around you, as special cells in the skin gather information about your environment. These cells send signals through a network of nerves within the body; These signals activate the animal to take some kind of action, such as turning or crawling.

The starfish has a positive impact for humans; The exo-skeleton contains a non-stick material with the ability to treat inflammatory human diseases such as arthritis and hay fever. The non-stick material achieves its healing properties, by repelling bacteria and viruses that cause diseases in humans. A team from the Scottish Association of Marine Sciences, has conducted a study of the viscous substance that covers it, finding that the slippery material was better than Teflon as a non-stick, preventing debris from adhering and keeping it clean, as it inhabits In the deep sea.

There are around 2,000 species of starfish that live in all the world's oceans, from tropical habitats to the cold seabed. The varieties of five arms are the most common, hence the name, but there are species with 10, 20 and even 40 arms.

Sea stars can reproduce both sexually and asexually and therefore if the reproduction is sexual, the starfish release the sperm and eggs directly to the sea so the way to fertilize is totally external.

Starfish have separate sexes but some hermaphroditic species have also been discovered. Most of the species that are hermaphrodites incubate their eggs.

On the other hand, when there is an asexual reproduction is when a new starfish appears from the arms torn off.


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