where do starfish live? when do they breed? what do they look like and what do they eat?

Question

in what habitats do star fish live?what do they look like (appearence)?at what time of year do they breed? what sorts of food do they eat? and any other interesting facts.

Answer 1

Well, first of all, starfish aren't fish. Marine biologists prefer to call them sea stars instead of starfish to remove that ambiguity, so I'll follow their lead...

They live only in salt water, and since they can't swim and only move relatively slowly, they all inhabit the ocean floors only. On the ocean floor there are many species living in many different areas, from coastal ones to the deep sea. As organisms, they're fairly hardy, actually.

Sea stars are... well... star-shaped, of course. The bottom of is covered with hydraulically-powered tube-feet which allow them to move around and suction to things. Most of the rest of their surface accounts for their latin name of 'echinoderm', which means spiny-skinned. It also makes it hard for many critters to eat them (well, without flipping them over, at least) and keeps barnacles and the like off their slow-moving bodies. They have an 'eye' at the end of each arm, but it's only really sensitive to light. Their mouth is on the bottom in the middle, and their anus is on the top.

Although they are slow, they are comparatively tireless. Many sea stars will eat clams, oysters, and the like by suctioning onto both halves of the shell and then pulling and pulling until the clam becomes exhausted and has to open up. They'll also tend to eat any other meat that can't get away from them - sick or wounded fish, and so on. An interesting feature of the starfish is that it can eat things by spitting out its stomach. It's stomach can then digest something larger than its mouth, and the sea star can wander happily off. Because they can survive several weeks without eating, it is suspected that they can gain some nutrition from dissolved organic material in sea water.

Sea stars reproduce in an unexciting way... they just release germ cells into the ocean, and if the germ cells are lucky they'll find one of the opposite gender and eventually just grow into a sea star. Each sea star DOES have a gender, male or female, though it's hard to tell by looking. Sea stars also have a ludicrous ability to regenerate themselves - a torn off arm can often grow into a whole new sea star. Clam fishermen used to throw sea stars into the spinning rotors of their boats to chop them up, but each of the pieces produced would become a new sea star and make the problem far, far worse! Some species seem to shed arms intentionally to reproduce asexually in this way.

Hope this helps! Echinoderms have always been one of my favourite sea creatures (next to the octopus)!

Answer 2

Starfish, also called seastars, live only in marine habitats. The habitats vary. Some seastars live in shallow water, some in deep water. Some prefer rocky habitats, others sandy or muddy habitats. Most species have 5 arms, but some species have many more than that. Shallow water species typically breed in the springtime. For deep water species the habitat is constant year round, so their breeding is less likely to be seasonal. Starfish feed primarily on molluscs, especially bivalve molluscs like clams and mussels, which they open by attaching their powerful tube feet to the two shells of the mollusc and pulling steadily until the clam just gets tired of fighting back and allows its shell to open. The starfish then pushes its stomach out through its mouth, inserts it inside the clam shell, and digests the clam in its own shell. Some species are also scavengers and will feed on a dead fish when available. And a few species feed on the polyps of living coral.

Answer 3

Where Do Starfish Live

Answer 4

Generally, starfish live in reef and tidepool environments, although there are also deep water varieties. They all have five arms, which can regenerate if damaged or severed. Their eyes cover their backs, although they are more light sensors than eyes. Their tube-feet provide both locomotion and means to direct their food to their mouths, in the center of the underside. They are scavengers for the most part.Appearance varies from large, bright yellow stars with thick arms 3 to 9 inches across to delicate red stars with thin, flexible arms looking almost like 5 worms attached together. They are definitely worth searching the web for.

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
where do starfish live? when do they breed? what do they look like and what do they eat?
in what habitats do star fish live?what do they look like (appearence)?at what time of year do they breed? what sorts of food do they eat? and any other interesting facts.

Answer 6

starfish live breed eat

Answer 7

On stars

Answer 8

There's one between everyone's cheeks.

Answer 9

In the ocean, on the ocean bed,like a star,microbes etc. in that order I think