Starfish
Starfish
STARFISH or SEASTARS
Starfish's Wisdom Includes:
•Connection to the star people
•Regeneration
•Moon magick
•Beauty
Description:
Starfish are star shaped animals that live in the bottom of the sea. Their family name is "Echinoderm" which includes: Brittle stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumber and Sea Stars.
It's mouth is in the middle of it's body and it's eye's on the end of it's legs. It can grow up to 24 legs. It has spiney skin and that's why it's called an Echinoderm which means "spiney skinned".
To walk it has small tubes like sticky pads which help it walk up rocks or along sand.
Starfish can grow up to 10-30 cm in diameter. There are OVER 100 different types of Starfish, so scientists are still studying hard on them
Interesting Facts:
The Starfish can actually pull open a shell!
If it finds a mussel or other mollusc it pulls open the shell and eats the inside, they do the same with shell fish and scallops.
The Starfish can come up to 3000 members within one area. If a Starfish looses four of it's five legs it can grow them all back.
Food and Eating Habits:
The starfish eats mostly molluscs but it eats sponges, corals and even seaworms!
Predators and defenses:
If a mussel or clam that a Starfish eats is sick or dead the starfish may die and it's very lucky if it lives.
Habitat/Location:
The Starfish live mainly on the bottom of the sea but it also lives in small holes left by other creatures in rocks and coral reefs. The second main place to find Starfish is on coral because the starfish nearly always eats it!
Behaviours:
If a Star fish finds a piece of food, such as a muscle, it sends off food signals. Soon, all the Starfish that got the message come and start fighting over the food, like a flock of seagulls with a fish or something.
Breeding/Rearing Young:
When mating season comes all the female starfish send off eggs. The male senses them and sends off sperm. The eggs and sperm join together and make a baby.
A Star Fish Story
An old woman was walking on the beach one day. She saw that during the
night, all the starfish had washed ashore. Hundreds of starfish lay glistening,
out of reach of the receding waves.
Then, she noticed two girls on the shoreline. They were gathering up
starfish in their hands. Carefully, they threw handful after handful of starfish
back into the ocean.
The old woman looked around and realized that a crowd of people had
gathered to watch. No one had said anything to the girls. So finally the old woman
asked, "What are you doing?"
The girls answered, "'These starfish will die if we don't get them back
into the water."
All the grownups chuckled. They thought the girls must be stupid or
something.
After all, everything died. Who cared about a few starfish? What did it
matter anyway?
The crowd began to move away. But the old woman stayed, hoping to teach
her younger sisters a lesson. She told the girls, "You're wasting your time.
There are hundreds of starfish lying around out here. It's not going to make a
difference."
The girls each picked up a starfish.
They showed the old woman the shiny, prickly
side of each fish, with the beautiful colored ridges. They turned the
starfish over. You could see movement as the starfish gaped, as if pleading for water.
Then the girls turned and threw the starfish gently back into the
ocean. The waves carried the starfish away, floating it back into the deep,
green water. The girls turned to the old woman and said -- "See? I just made
a difference. I made a difference to that starfish."
The old woman blushed. She saw that she had been wrong. These girls
were wiser than she was. So, she bent down and began to pick up the starfish. She
threw them into the sea. They moved slowly in her hands as if trying to
thank her. Then the starfish sank below the surface, back to their
home in the sea.
Eight hundred twenty-two starfish were saved that day, thanks to two
girls who showed an old woman that one big heart has the power to move many,
many hands.
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