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Starfish, also known as starfish, are incredibly unique and bizarre invertebrates that have an almost alien appearance. They are part of a group of animals known as echinoderms, which have radial symmetry rather than bilateral symmetry like most animals. V Echinoderms phylum also includes sea urchins, sea cucumbers and sea urchins! One of the most common questions asked about these unique animals is, “What do starfish eat?”
Moreover, how do they find and eat their food anyway? Finally, where is the mouth of the starfish? Read on and we will answer many of the questions you are likely to have about the mysterious starfish, one of the most unusual and charming animals ever to inhabit the vast seas of our planet.
How do starfish eat?
Before we get into what starfish eat, it’s helpful to first understand their unusual biology and how they find and eat food.
Surprisingly, starfish do not digest food inside their bodies the way most animals do. In fact, they are able to push their entire stomach out through their mouth in a process known as eversion!
Starfish navigate the seabed using hundreds of tiny structures called tubular legs that are attached to the bottom of each of their arms. They fill these tiny “legs” with water, quickly contract and relax them, allowing them to move surprisingly quickly from place to place (and more importantly, to their next meal!).
When the starfish finds what it wants to eat, it quickly moves towards its prey and prepares for the eversion process.
The mouth of a starfish is actually located on the underside of its body, or rather in the center where all of its limbs meet. From this mouth, the starfish draws its belly and uses it to completely envelop its prey, like a clam or sea snail. Their stomachs then begin to secrete digestive enzymes that break down the victim’s body, which in turn makes it easier to suck it back into the starfish’s mouth.
Finally, the starfish pulls the belly back into its mouth, and the prey animal is trapped inside. The starfish then allows its many internal digestive glands to finish off the animal. This is a really strange survival tactic, but great for such a strange animal!
What do starfish eat?
Now that you have a better understanding of how sea stars use their bodies to move around and catch prey, we can move on to the many foods these unusual animals eat.
Of the approximately 2,000 species of starfish, almost all are carnivores. This means that they feed mainly on the meat of other animals that live in the ocean.
Most of the diet of a typical starfish consists of various types of shellfish, which starfish are able to crack open with their powerful sucker paws. However, they are known to feed on a variety of other small carnivorous animals as well.
Here are many of the animals that starfish commonly eat:
Do starfish have predators?
Sea stars have several useful defense mechanisms that ward off many large predators. In particular, they have a very rough, bone-like exoskeleton that is unpleasant to many animals, and the suction-cup-like structures on their legs make it difficult for them to peel off surfaces such as stones.
However, despite these clever remedies, sea stars have a variety of predators that feed on them in the ocean. Here is a list of the animals that commonly eat starfish:
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