Organism - Sea Star

Sea stars also called starfish, which are spiny, hard-skinned animals that live on the rocky sea floor. These invertebrates are NOT fish but they are echinoderms. Sea stars move very slowly along the sea bed, using hundreds of tiny tube feet. There are over 2,000 different species of sea stars worldwide.

Reproduction: Most species of starfish expel enormous numbers of eggs and sperm into the ocean; fertilization is external. After fertilization, the tiny, transparent, bilaterally-symmetrical larvae (baby sea stars) travel many miles as they are swept along by ocean currents for about two months. As they develop, the tiny larvae swim in the sea, eat phytoplankton, and are a component of zooplankton.

Diet: Sea stars are carnivores (meat-eaters). They eat clans, oysters, coral, fish, and other animals. They push their stomach out through their mouth (located on the underside of the sea star) and digest the prey.

Anatomy: Most sea stars have five arms (or a multiple of five) that radiate from a central disk. Sea stars do not have a brain; they have a simple ring of nerve cells that moves information around the body. Eyespots (primitive light sensors) are at the tip of each arm. If a sea star's arm is cut off, it will regenerate (regrow).

Classification: Kingdom Animalia (animals), Phylum Echinodermata echinoderms, Class Asteroidea (sea stars), about 2,000 species.

Role in the ecosystem: Sea stars are one of the best known invertebrates. They are also ecologically important because they can be important predators of other invertebrates like clams, barnacles and other attached marine life. They can be brightly colored and, in many species, show considerable variability in color within one species.

Unique characteristics: with a flattened, star-shaped body, have 5 arms or multiples of 5 arms , Spines or reduced spines on outer surface , walk using many tube feet that have suckers on their ends, a mouth on bottom (oral) surface and anus on the upper (aboral) surface of your body and eat both plants and animals (an omnivore).