Starfish. We’ve put together the most interesting facts about these amazing animals for you.
- The SF is one of the oldest inhabitants of our planet. This species is over 400 million years old!
- Starfish are echinoderms and are classified as a separate class of over 1,500 species.
- In size, starfish can be from a few centimeters to one meter.
- Some starfish have a lifespan of over 30 years.
- Most often, SF have 5 rays. But in some species, their number can reach 6-12 and even 45-50.
- It’s hard to believe. But the rays contain the digestive outgrowths of the stomach and even the outgrowths of the genitals!
- The starfish even has eyes! They are located at the ends of each beam. True, the structure of the eyes is very primitive, they are not able to distinguish objects, and only react to light and darkness.
- On each ray of the starfish there are also small tentacle suckers, with the help of which it moves along the bottom. Moreover, each leg moves independently of the others, but their actions always coordinated.
- The average speed of movement of an adult is 10 cm per minute, the maximum speed is 25-30 cm per minute.
- Observations of SF have shown that they do not move more than 500 meters from their habitat.
- The starfish can roll over from its back to its abdomen.
- The sense of touch highly developed in sea stars. They try to get rid of the sand and parasites that appear on the surface of their bodies, and they also move by touch.
- Starfish have an amazing ability to regenerate! For example, in case of danger, a starfish can throw off all the rays, and then grow them back!
- There are times when a whole star regenerated from a debris of a ray. In young stars, the lost parts usually recover faster than in old ones, and in warm-water tropical species faster than in cold-water inhabitants.
- Starfish have no gills or lungs. They breathe through special growths on the surface of the body.
The starfish is even capable of developing elementary conditioned reflexes. So, individuals that often fell into the nets learned to get out of them faster than those who caught for the first time.
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