10 Interesting Sea Star Facts

Tuesday, June 9th 2015. | Animals


Find out the interesting star shaped echinoderm in Sea Star Facts. This marine animal is included in the class Asteroidea. People often call it starfish. These animals can be found on the seabed of various oceans in the world.  They like living in the intertidal to abyssal zone. The study finds out that the species of sea star is around 1,500 species. Here are other interesting facts about sea star below:

Sea Star Facts 1: the appearance

Sea star has five arms with a central disc. The number of arms of sea stars depends on the species. They are included as marine invertebrate. You can see the overlapping plates on the surface of the sea star’s body.

Sea Star Facts 2: the color

Sea star is considered as a beautiful marine animal in the world. It comes in various colors such as blue, red, orange, grey, and brown.

Sea Star Color

Sea Star Color

Sea Star Facts 3: the mouth

The mouth of sea star is located at the center of the lower surface. The hydraulic system is used to operate the tube feet.

Sea Star Facts 4: hunting for food

The main food of sea star is the benthic invertebrates. They are included as opportunistic feeders.   The feeding behavior of sea star is unique. Some of them perform suspension feeding or even eversion.

Sea Star Shape

Sea Star Shape

Sea Star Facts 5: the life cycle

The life cycle of sea star can be performed sexually and asexually. One of the animal defense mechanisms is by shedding the arms. Even though they lose one or two arms, they can be regenerated.

Sea Star Facts 6: the ecological roles

The sea stars can have the negative or positive impact on the ecology. The negative impact can be seen when the Acanthaster planci predates the corals located in indo pacific regions. Get facts about sea creature here.

Sea Star Facts

Sea Star Facts

Sea Star Facts 7: the important of sea stars

Sea star is one of the important marine animals in the world.  It has been included in part of logos, designs, legends and literature. Some people also eat sea star as food.

Sea Star Facts 8: sea star as food

In some occasions, sea stars are cooked. The people in Indonesian archipelago, Japan, China and Micronesia sometimes eat sea stars.

Sea Star

Sea Star

Sea Star Facts 9: collectibles

As I have stated before, sea star is charming, colorful and cute. There is no need to wonder that it has been sold in various parts of the world as collectibles. It can be displayed on the fish tank, aquariums or curios. Get facts about sea sponge here.

Sea Star Facts 10: diet

The main foods of sea star include bivalves, microalgae, snails and sponges.

Red Sea Star

Red Sea Star

Do you enjoy reading facts about sea star?


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