Well Happy Friday folks! I hope everyone has something fun planned for halloween! I am sure all the little trick or treaters will be excited for this weekend. If you are dressing up for Halloween I would be interested in hearing what you are going out as so please leave me a comment. This will be my first year handing out candy to the little rug rats so it should be fun!
Unfortunately, today’s post is not Halloween themed but just because it isn’t spooky and scary doesn’t mean it won’t be interesting. Today we are all going to learn how the stars move. No of course not the stars in the sky, I mean the ones in the ocean. Of course I am referring to starfish! So how do these crusty stars get from point A to point B? Believe it or not they use their feet! Did you know that starfish have numerous tiny feet on the bottom of each arm. They are able to draw water into their tube feet. Similarly, the vascular system of the starfish is also filled with sea water. By moving this vascular water to the feet they are able to propel themselves which obviously allows them to move around. If you are looking for a gift for that special sea star in your life then I suggest buying them some water proof shoes or maybe rubber boots.
As well, the starfish has a tiny white spot underneath them that actually filters the sea water that is heading for the vascular system. This little spot helps fill up the vascular tanks and consequently assists with locomotion. For a quick video of a starfish moving, check out the YouTube clip below.
Starfish Fast Fact: Did you know that most starfish have 5 arms but there are some that have 10, 20 and even as many as 40 arms! As well, remember that just because they are called starfish they are not really fish and are actually an echinoderm which is closely related to sea urchins and sand dollars.
Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween!
I’ve seen them at Marine Land and actually held one, but didn’t realize they could actually walk. There wasn’t much movement when we were there. Probably tuckered out from all the spectators mauling them. Enjoy your little trick or treaters. We don’t get too many out here, but I will have something on hand just in case.
They might have just given up on walking since once they got to wherever they were going some spectator picked them up and ruined the whole trip for them. I believe I saw a couple of starfish at the Sea Life Center in Alaska. They truly are an interesting creature!
If I am in the neighbourhood, I will be sure to stop over for some candy!
Have a great Halloween!
Wow Nathan, that was really cool to learn, I guess they have a hard time trick-or-treating lol
I think they might have a tough time trick or treating. They have an even tougher time running from the cops after they egg a house and smash the pumpkin.
Have a great weekend!
I love starfish! I love the ocean so anything that has to do with the ocean is fine with me….except sharks!
Hope you have a good Halloween!
I am with you on this one, anml_lvr! There is just something intriguing about the ocean. I have the same interest in space. Maybe it is just the curiosity of the unknown.
I will definitely try to have a great Halloween. Are you going out for Halloween? Dressing up?
Hey I just found your blog and is pretty interesting, I didn’t know anything about starfish. Thanks for sharing
Happy Halloween!
Hi Pau and welcome to Wild Facts! I am glad you enjoyed the starfish post.
Make yourself at home and if you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to ask.
Have a great weekend and enjoy your spooktacular day tomorrow!
Happy Halloween Nathan. I freaking love starfish and the pic you have is perfect. Such a mysterious creature from the sea. But there are a ton of mysterious creatures from the ocean depths. You could easily do 1000 creatures just from the sea, let alone the entire planet. Think you will never run out of good stuff to write about. Have a great Trick or Treat, Glenn
Hey Glenn!
Thanks and Happy Halloween to you as well. I hope you are ready to go out trick or treating! You are absolutely right about being able to do 1000 facts just on bizarre sea creatures. Generally, if I am having writers block I go to the sea creatures because there is always something down there that sparks my writing.
Thanks for checking out Wild Facts!
Have a good one!!
What a cool clip! I’ve never actually seen a starfish “move” (they really just look like they are going with the flow, don’t they?) Thanks for another awesome post – I thoroughly enjoy this site! :o)
Hi Jen!
It really does look like they are just moving with the flow. I guess it is the way the use the water to help them move that gives them this look. Great observation!
Thanks so much for the compliments and I am glad you enjoy Wild Facts.
Have a great weekend!
Very interesting, in fact quite fascinating – having feet under arms! This is something I never heard before about starfish.
I guess you are right, having feet under your arms are quite fascinating. I hadn’t thought about it that way before!
Thanks for stopping by!
i would love to see a picture of a 40-arm starfish! i thought they were all a standard five-arm unless they’d been made a gimp and only had four!
Hi SJ!
It took some googling but I think I found a link that has a picture of a 40 armed star fish (I think it is 40… I lost count). The link is
http://www.150.si.edu/150trav/discover/d348a.gif
The picture is a little small but you can see how the arms work out. I believe the Sun Star is the starfish that usually has the most arms. The 40 arm starfish is a rare find but it is still pretty impressive.
Taylor had to do some research for school today on the star fish. We learned they are not actually a fish and marine biologists are trying to rename them Sea Stars, they have no blood or brain and can regenerate lost limbs. I am the fact master today. I checked your site remembering you had done a blog on them. Have a good one.
Glad to hear that Taylor is doing a cool research project on starfish (I will continue to call them starfish, although I used the “Sea Star” as well in my post). You certainly are the fact master today, I am impressed. Another interesting thing about your sea stars is the fact that they have a tiny eye on the end of each of their arms. These eyes are not like ours but they can distinguish between light and dark which allows them to see movements.
I hope you found all of the information you were looking for. If you need anything, just let me know! I would love to help out anyway that I can.
Thanks for stopping by!