Starfish Facts on their Diet
Starfishes are among the most fun- looking marine animals that kids really want to pick when they go to the beach. Because of their appearance, people get more interested about these animals. One of the common questions about starfish facts that kids ask is about the food and the diet of starfishes. The diet of these sea creatures is actually quite interesting because of the variety of food that they eat.
There are more than one species of starfishes in the sea. Each one of these species can have their own preference as to what they would want to eat. But if you look at the bigger picture, a majority of these starfish species are actually considered generalists. Generalist predator is the term given to animals that can eat almost anything that they can handle. In the case of starfishes, their prey are those that move too slowly because it will be easier for them to attack them.
Examples of the food that most starfishes eat are snails, oysters, and clams. There are also starfishes that eat dying fishes that are too slow to escape their attacks since healthy fishes can easily swim away. Some species of starfishes also prey on other echinoderms just like them.
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Starfish Facts
Starfish, also popularly recognized equally as sea stars, common name for 5 orders and about 1500 living species of marine invertebrate characterized by radially arranged arms having locomotory tube feet. Actually, starfish cannot be considered as fish in spite of the name provided to these sea animals. Some known starfish facts are that they belong to the group called echinoderms. They can be found in great numbers in the depths of the ocean and as well as in shallow waters. More... Feeding a Starfish
Nowadays, marine scientists call starfish “sea stars”, since they are actually not fish, but echinoderms. There are more than two thousand species of sea stars. Most of them have five arms, but others are blessed with up to forty arms. The stomach and mouth of the starfish are located on its bottom. These animals usually push their stomachs from their bodies, wrapping them around the food for digestion. When learning how to feed a starfish, identify what type your starfish More... Handling Alive Starfish
In order to handle a life starfish properly, you need to gently pick it up and not bend or break its arms, which may be somewhat fragile and small on a number of species. Although starfishes are popular for their regeneration capabilities, you must always hold them very cautiously to minimize any possible damage. You have to wrap a moist towel around the starfish or put it in a handy marine environment (a container full of seawater), in case it 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... 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... 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... Starfish Facts on Asexual Methods of Reproduction
Starfishes are animals that are known to be able to multiply through both the sexual and the asexual processes. Based on starfish facts, not all species of starfishes can asexually create an offspring. There are species that strictly multiply through the sexual methods. But the asexual reproduction of starfishes is definitely a very interesting topic especially to kids. The asexual process of preproduction by starfishes can be accomplished through two methods. These are autotomy and fission. Autotomy is the process More... |