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 Red,
orange, brown... Sea stars are very colorful. They are also called
starfish. There are more than 2,000 species of sea stars living
in all the world’s oceans. They are very hardy, so they can live almost
everywhere that there is water, like in tropical area or in cold
and deep ocean water.
If you look closely at a starfish, you will know that it has a unique
appearance! Most sea stars have spiny skin and five arms. But,
surprisingly, they can grow up to 50 arms! Also, their arms are covered
with pincer-like organs and suckers. These parts can
allow them to creep along the ocean floor.
Can they see ahead? It is a bit hard to find with a naked eye, but
they have red eyes at the end of each arm!
 Amazingly,
sea stars can grow a new arm if they lose one! This is useful if they
are threatened by a predator. They can drop an
arm to get away from their enemy. And then they grow
a new arm. What happens to the dropped arm? It can grow an entirely
new sea star! So two starfish can come from one! Isn’t it cool?
These days, many people think sea stars are harmful to the marine ecosystem.
It is because their numbers have sharply increased over the
last few years and they feed on too much fish and
shellfish. However, that
kind of sea star is just one species, called Asterias amurensis. Other
sea stars help clean the ocean, eating dead sea animals. Also, now
scientists are studying about how to make new medicines from sea stars.
What an interesting creature! |
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