Starfish Dissection

Starfish Dissection

-Starfish are found in plenty of marine environments. They are commonly found in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans as well as the Mediterranean sea.

-Some starfish mainly get their nutrition from mollusks but they also feed on sand dollars, oysters, clams, and mussels. Other starfish get their nutrition from decomposing plants and animals in the water or on the beach or even hunt plankton, sponges, and coral.

-To break open mollusks to eat them, starfish tightly wrap themselves around them to powerfully break the muscles that hold the mollusks together. The starfish then pushes it’s mouth out of its stomach, consumes the mollusk, and then re-swallows it’s stomach. Crazy, right?

-Starfish breathe through the thin tissue on their tube feet which allows gases to easily pass through. Their tube feet and papulae, small pimply bumps on their body, transport oxygen or carbon dioxide in and out of their bodies.

-Star fish are not fish for they are echinoderms. They do not have gills, fins, or scales, which fish contain.

Sources-

http://animals.pawnation.com/starfish-found-1879.html

http://www.whatdostarfisheat.info/

http://www.conservapedia.com/Starfish

Dissection