Body Cooling
All types of living organisms will always have a suitable environment where they can survive. Slight changes in the environment will be acceptable because of an organism’s ability to adapt. But when the environment gets too extreme, the organism’s adaptation mechanisms may not work anymore. Temperature plays a vital role when animals choose their habitat. Starfishes live under the sea but they can be affected by water temperature levels too. Based on starfish facts gathered by researchers, starfishes can start to die when they are exposed to temperatures higher than 35 degrees Celsius.
Because the starfish is submerged in water, it has a unique way of cooling itself. If dogs can pant and human beings can sweat to release heat from their bodies, starfishes can rely on two essential mechanisms to decrease body temperature. The first one is through the vascular system where water continually flows inside and out of the body of the starfish. They can move to a location that has cooler water to introduce cold water inside their system.
The other mechanism that they use is through their network of nerves that will be able to channel heat to their arms instead of focusing it in their central discs. Starfishes will die quicker if their discs are warmer so they transfer the heat to their extremities.
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Starfish Facts on Regeneration
Some of the most fascinating starfish facts are about their abilities in regenerating arms that have been cut. First you must understand why there are instances where a starfish could be missing an arm. The starfishes can actually be bitten by a predator and was able to escape or the starfish voluntarily cut one of its arms so that the predator will be distracted and they can escape. There are also species that cut their arms to reproduce. The duration More... Starfish Facts on Environmental Dangers and Threats
According to zoologists who study starfishes and their impact to the environment, these sea creatures have a very important role in the oceans. They may look like decorations in the ocean floor but they are actually considered as keystone species because they contribute in creating balance of species under the sea which can be done through predation. With the starfish facts that people already know, it will be a good start to know what these animals do so that people More... Starfish Facts on How They Protect Themselves
When a prey is being stalked by predators, the first reaction of the prey is always to flee the scene. It will only be during compromising situations wherein the prey would start to be in fight mode. Unfortunately, starfishes cannot just escape from predators because most of them are generally slow. So they use numerous other defense mechanisms to protect themselves. According to the starfish facts gathered by zoologists, certain species of starfishes have a chemical coating in their bodies More... Anatomy of the Starfish Facts
A lot of starfish facts talk about the anatomy of this sea creature. The shape of the common starfish which is what people perceive as a star is already interesting as it is. But if you look into the structure both internal and external parts of the starfish, you will really be fascinated by this animal. Just like humans, the starfish has different skin layers such as the epidermis and the dermis. But they also have an epithelium layer where More... Researching about Starfish Facts
There will be no starfish facts that people know today if not for the researches and studies done by scientists, zoologists, and biologists. From the time that starfish species were first discovered and studied by humans until today, a wider range of information are already gathered pertaining to these creatures. Researching starfishes is not an easy thing to do since there are thousands of species that are still living. In order to understand the evolution of this creature, researchers would More... Starfish Facts on Movement
Starfishes are definitely not popular for their speed. Majority of the species of starfishes can actually just cover a distance of less than 10 inches in a single minute. Even if their speed when moving is not something that might interest the people, the method on how they transfer from one place to another is certainly fascinating. These are some of the starfish facts that many people want to know more about. If you take a look at the underside More... External Threats
The greatest threat to starfish is similar one which endangers most other seawater animals: human beings. Starfish needs clean and clear water as its habitat. When humans permit water pollutants to flow into the seas and oceans, these species can get extremely unhealthy and even die. In addition, there are several cultures that allow the eating of starfish. In case too many starfishes are brought away from any area, these beautiful seawater creatures will be deprived of the opportunity to More... Central Disc of Starfish
Starfish have the capability of re-growing partial bodies or lost arms, after they experience an injury. They typically do this to either reproduce or heal wounds. If you cut a sea star into five sections, each containing a portion of its central disc and an original arm, five new sea stars will be born. For the most part, a sea star can never clone itself except when the targeted clone has a section of the central disc. As the name More... Fun Starfish Facts for Kids
Kids are always inquisitive especially if they see something that looks interesting. Starfishes always catch their attention because of their appearance and it will be fun if you give a few starfish facts to your kids if they ask. The first fact that you can give them is that starfishes are not really fish but they are echinoderms. They are more related to sea cucumbers even if they have a ‘fish’ in their name. You may be able to find More... |