Sea Star, Starfish

Description:

Starfish have a flattened body with their mouth located underneath its body. Their skin is rough and leathery and usually has spines. Starfish eat and digest food outside of their bodies. Most starfish are scavengers, feeding on a lot of different plants or animals. While some appear smooth, they all have spines covering their upper surface and a soft underside. If you gently turn over a live sea star, you'll see its tube feet wiggling back at you.

Habitat:

Located at the edge of the Catalina Casino building, the Casino Point Marine Park is Southern California's first city-designated underwater park. Established in 1965 by the City of Avalon as a reserve, Casino Point Marine Park has an abundance of marine life, giant kelp forests, and several shipwrecks to explore. Several artificial reefs have been established to provide additional habitats.

Notes:

All echinoderms have five-point radial symmetry, which means that their body plan has five sections (or multiples thereof) arranged around a central disk. Starfish feed mainly on such invertebrates as coral and shellfish, especially clams and oysters. Starfish with suction disks use them to hold and force open the shells of shellfish. Once it has opened a shell, the starfish extends its stomach membranes from its mouth, inserts them into the shell opening, and secretes digestive juices that break down the shellfish's body into a form that can be absorbed into the stomach membranes. Starfish without suction disks swallow their prey whole, and eject the parts that are not digestible.