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All material is my personal opinion, and not that of any other organization.Copyright 2000. Permission is granted for individual teacher use. All rights reserved. |
  Porsha and Fabian The ochre star is 30 cm across. It has rows of white-tipped spines. At the tips of its arms it has light sensors. It grows slowly. It opens a mussel shell as little as .1 mm and puts its stomach in it to eat it. To hold onto a rock it has tiny suction cups on each foot. A starfish doesn't have a head or a tail so it can change direction without turning around. Its tube feet can open a clam or a mussel just enough for the starfish to put its stomach inside to eat the prey. When the starfish is finished it pulls its stomach back in and moves on.
When we found the ochre starfish it was on a rock. It was sticking to the rock very hard, in the low tide zone. It was eating a sea snail. It moves very slow but it's very strong. Taipaleti and Sameer add: We found it in the water between the rocks. I walked up and saw it by the mussels. Sea stars' feet have tiny suction cups, which helps them hang on so the waves won't wipe them off. The sea star live with the mussels and eat them.
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Some
starfish eggs swim free, while others guard their eggs until
they hatch. They eat barnacles, limpets and snails, as well as
mussels. The one pictured is wrapped around a mussel, pulling
the shell apart to eat the animal inside. It was purple with
white spots.