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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Fact of the Day for October 5, 1999
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How does a starfish eat?
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A starfish turns its stomach inside out to eat. When it finds
something tasty (like a snail), it extrudes its stomach through a
tiny hole. The stomach is like a transparent bag made out of thin
rubber. It wraps around the prey, completely surrounding it, and the
prey is digested.
If the prey is a tough morsel like a hard-shelled mussel, the
starfish attaches its suction-tube feet to the mussel's shells and
simply pulls them apart. It can do this because it is able to exert
a huge, steady force with a network of hydraulic tubes that run
through its entire body. Once the shells are open, the stomach goes
in through the gap and dinner is served.
Long article about starfish as pets, with great pictures and lots of
information about various feeding habits:
http://www.aquarium.net/0797/0797_2.shtml
The crown-of-thorns starfish is specialized to eat coral:
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/reflib/cot-starfish/pages/cot-q20.html
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Copyright (c) 1999, The Learning Kingdom, Inc.
http://www.LearningKingdom.com
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