Learn how starfish regenerate lost arms, sense light with their eye spots, and navigate the ocean with their water vascular system. Starfish are truly marine marvels!
Starfish can regenerate lost arms, and some species can even regrow an entire body from a single arm.
Despite their name, starfish (or sea stars) aren't fish; they're echinoderms, related to sea urchins and sand dollars.
They use hundreds of tube feet located on their undersides to move and capture prey.
Each arm has an eye spot at its tip, allowing starfish to sense light and dark.
Starfish have a unique feeding method where they eject their stomachs out of their bodies to digest food externally.
They feed on a variety of marine life, including mollusks, coral, and even other starfish.
Typically, starfish have five arms, but some species can have as many as forty.
Their unique locomotion and feeding system is driven by a water vascular system, using seawater instead of blood.
Starfish are found in oceans all over the world, from tropical coral reefs to deep-sea floors.
They come in a wide range of colors and patterns, often blending into their surroundings to avoid predators.