09/23/2021
🏝 How about some fun facts about beautiful Sea Stars aka Starfish?
1 - There are around 2,000 species of Sea Star. While many species live in tropical areas, you can also find them in cold waters - even the polar regions.
2 - Sea Stars do not have a brain or blood. Instead, they have a complex central nervous system and use filtered sea water to pump nutrients through their system.
3 - They’re actually related to sand dollars and sea urchins. They do not have gills, scales, or fins like fish do.
4 - They can live up to 35 years in the wild.
5 - They can have up to 40 arms! While most of us are most familiar with the five-armed species of Sea Stars, some species have many more. The Sun Star can have up to 40 arms.
6 - Sea Stars reproduce sexually by spawning. Which means they release s***m and eggs (called gametes) into the water. The s***m fertilizes the gametes and produces swimming larvae which eventually settle on the ocean floor, growing into adult Sea Stars. They are also capable of asexual reproduction, which means one can create another one without mating. In this case, a severed limb can become an entire body, producing an entirely new Sea Star.
7 - They eat inside out. When they capture prey, they have tiny suction cups to grab ahold of their food. Then their stomach exits their mouth to digest the food and reenters the body when they’re done eating.
8 - The largest known Sea Star, the Sunflower Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides), has an arm span, reaching nearly 40 inches from tip to tip, and is also the heaviest, weighing in at up to 11 pounds.
9 - The smallest known Sea Star, the Little Patty (Patiriella parvivipara), is only known to be found in Australia and at it’s largest only measures one centimeter or 3/64” in diameter. This tiny creature is actually self-fertilizing, meaning that it has reproductive organs associated with both genders.
10 - Sea Stars prey on bivalves like mussels and clams as well as small fish, snails, and barnacles.
There you have it. You’re 10 facts wiser about Sea Stars today.