Excerpts from E & E's written reports:
Starfish are wonderful and beautiful creatures. In fact, they are not even fish! They are echinoderms, related to the sea urchin and sand dollar. Sadly, because of this, scientists have replaced the name "Starfish" with "Sea Stars".
(photo was not altered in any way....the water really is this beautiful!)
There are over 2,000 species of Sea Stars in the world.
Normally, stars have 5 arms, but stars with 10, 20, even 40 arms exist! (We're hoping to see some of those on Roatan!)
Common sightings along the beach while we walk to and fro.....
Besides their shape, sea stars are also famous for their ability to regenerate limbs, and in some cases, entire bodies.
They accomplish this by housing all of their vital organs in their arms Some require the central body to be intact to regenerate, but a few can grow an entirely new sea star from just a portion of a severed limb!
- Sea Stars do not have blood
- They move using their tube feet
- Sea Stars have eyes
- They eat mussels, clams, barnacles, snails, and fish
No comments:
Post a Comment