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Star Fish (Starfish)

    

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Information About Star Fish (Starfish)

 

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Predator of Starfish Animal

Sometimes there is no predator to devour the crown-of-thorns starfish, when he abides on the coral reef. His name is also Acanthaster planci. In such an instance, he can become so numerous, that his feeding ends the life of the entire reef.

Here are the names of some predators of the crown-of-thorns starfish :

  • Trapezia small crabs of the genus Trapezia live in pocilloporid hard corals. They snip off the spines of the crown-of-thorns starfish at their bases. This causes the starfish to be less well defended.
  • Small crabs of the genus Tetralia abide on Acropora hard corals, and nip the tube feet of the crown-of-thorns starfish.
  • The humphead Maori wrasse fish eats the crown-of-thorns starfish.
  • The giant triton snail eats the crown-of-thorns starfish.
  • The sweetlip emperor fish eats the crown-of-thorns starfish.
  • The starry puffer fish eats the crown-of-thorns starfish.

No doubt you have heard of Keesing and Halford. Well, back in '92, they reported about field studies that they somehow knew of.

It was observed that benthic animaux preyed upon young starfish. Some of these benthic critters were fish, crabs, and shrimp. The young starfish don't have such forbidding spines as have the older ones.

 

 

 

 

 

Regeneration of Starfish Arms

Of course a starfish is not a fish, that is just a fanciful name. To make the distinction clear, some folks call them "sea stars".

Arms of starfish are called rays, like rays of light emanating from a star.

Starfish are echinoderms, which means spinily skinned animaux.

Echinoderms show us how to regrow or regenerate parts of our bodies.

Most species of starfish have learned, so far, only to regenerate rays from the middle of their bodies. This means that their bodies must be in good shape first.

So far, the way is being led by some species of starfish -- they can grow a whole starfish from just one of their rays.

There is a species called Linckia. It is one of the species that are leading the way by producing a number of different starfish from the pieces of one of their kind that has been rented into fragments.

This is called also asexual reproduction. Sometimes they do it on purpose, just to make new starfish.

 

Starfish Shrimp Periclimenes Genus

This is a little shrimp that changes color to match the color of the starfish. They like to be around starfish. sometimes there is a lighter colored band on their back. See image links in right column.