Starfish Facts on their Senses

Even if starfishes look very peculiar and different from the rest of the animals that you typically see, they still have typical body functions and processes that other animals commonly share. They also have senses such as seeing, touching, and smelling. These senses may be some starfish facts that you may not have heard before.

In terms of vision, starfishes actually have vision sensors which are eyespots that are specially located at the far ends of the starfish’s arms. These eyespots are not as complex as other animal’s eyes because they are only composed of very simple ocelli which are composed of a lens that helps them react to light. There are sensory neurons right beside these ocelli so that the light can be interpreted by the brain. Since this eye is not complex, the starfish focuses the light coming into these eyespots by surrounding them with cuticle.

The tube feet under the starfishes are also very sensitive to touch and sensation. These touch receptors also help in determining the temperature of the water so that they can move away from the temperatures that are not suitable for them. the spines on their backs are also equipped with touch sensors too.

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...

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 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...

Starfish Facts about their Habitat

People who want to learn more starfish facts should also look into the habitat and the areas around the world where starfishes can be found. One key fact that you should definitely know is that starfishes will never survive when not in water. You may see a few of them on the beach but if they do not get into the sea soon, they will have a major electrolyte imbalance within their bodies. This is directly related to the starfish’s More...

Other Cool Starfish Facts

There are various marine creatures, such as manta rays and sharks, which can prey on starfishes and penetrate their solid skin. There are species of birds that can feed on starfishes, which come too close to the water surface. The larger starfish species may sometimes feed on smaller marine species. The lifespan of a starfish can be up to thirty-five years if it is able to get away from its numerous predators. What makes the starfish very different from most More...

Starfish Facts on Reproduction

When it comes to starfish facts on reproduction, things can get a little bit interesting considering the fact that some species can regenerate and grow just from an arm. But the regeneration of one starfish coming from a single arm is under the asexual form of reproduction and only a few species will be able to do that. Regeneration usually requires majority of the central disc to be intact for most of the other species. In terms of sexual reproduction, 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...