Starfish are also known as sea stars. They are echinoderms that belong to the class, Asteroidea.There are about 1,800 living species of starfish. They are among the most familiar out of the marine animals and they have mamy characteristics including regeneration and feeding on mussels. They come in many sizes and they have many different feeding methods. Starfish are opportunistic feeders meaning that they have certain feeding behaviors such as suspension feeding and specialized predation on certain prey.
Starfish have a water vascular system that aids them in locomotion. This system has many features such as tube feet in the ventral faces of the starfish's arms helping them with movement and helping them eat. The mouth of the starfish is located on the underside of their bodies and it leads to their cardiac stomach and then to the pyloric stomach. Starfish also have a very complex nervous system. The esophagus is surrounded by a central nerve ring which sends radial nerves to each arm. All of these connect to form the brain. The ring nerves and radial nerves help coordinate the balance and direction for the starfish.
picture links:
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=843&tbm=isch&tbnid=0_dbmbiE_wzO5M:&imgrefurl=http://universe-review.ca/R10-33-anatomy.htm&docid=5Z6HQJVvjv14TM&imgurl=http://universe-review.ca/I10-82-starfish.jpg&w=650&h=423&ei=B0SvT9m2NIHgiALt_tmcBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=135&sig=112205966848938297682&page=1&tbnh=122&tbnw=187&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:129&tx=99&ty=94
dissection link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ7BzlZ5QW4
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