Recently, I came across this sand star that only had four arms. What happened to its fifth arm? I wondered. Then I thought, it doesn’t matter because sea stars have the power to regenerate their limbs. This got me thinking, humans are obsessed with super powers these days. The Marvel and DC Comics movies are… [read more]
Tube feet time
This is a close-up of a sea star’s tube feet, the tiny tube-shaped appendages located on the bottom of a sea star’s arms. Tube feet help sea stars get around, albeit very slowly, but they can move thanks to these whacky style feet. More importantly, tube feet help sea stars eat because they serve as… [read more]
The sea star Olympics
With everyone going Olympic crazy these days, it seems fitting to discuss ocean athletes, but instead of talking about the already famously fast bluefin tuna, I started wondering about a much slower ocean animal…the sea star. If sea stars lined up for a race, what species would win? It seems safe to say that very… [read more]
Meet the bat star
Batman is pretty cool, but what about the bat star or Asterina miniata? A bat star is a type of sea star. You may be wondering if this sea star has bat powers. No, it doesn’t, but it does have cool webbing between its arms reminiscent of the webbing on a bat’s wings, hence the… [read more]
7 swinging sand dollar facts
The sand dollar or Dendraster excentricus is one animal that continues to surprise me every time I see it. Long before I started learning about the ocean and marine life, I remember seeing faded-white sand dollar shells (former sand dollar endoskeletons) and not thinking much of them. Now I find sand dollars fascinating because they… [read more]
It’s a sea star, not a starfish!
A lot has changed in the last thirty years and that includes the starfish. For those of you out of the loop, the starfish is no longer a starfish, it’s a sea star. Why is that? Because a sea star is not a type of fish, it’s an echinoderm. Echinoderms are members of the phylum… [read more]