July 22, 2020
Let's learn all about Starfish! 🤩
👋 Hello again!
I used to love finding Starfish on the beach! In this episode we’re going to learn more about Starfish. We’ll talk about how they eat, get around, and what they should really be called. Join us for an exciting episode of Sleep Tight Science.
Thank you for listening,
Sheryl & Clark
❤️👂🔬
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Have an interesting science topic you would like investigated? Send us an email at hello@sleeptightscience.com and we may feature it in an upcoming show.
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About Sleep Tight Science
Sleep Tight Science is an exciting science facts and stories podcast for the whole family. In each episode we investigate the questions that kids have about anything science related. Have an interesting science topic you would like investigated? Send us an email at hello@sleeptightscience.com and we may feature it in an upcoming show.
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker 1: You're listening to sleep tight science. Did you know that starfish have five eyes, one at the end of each leg. Wow? So how do starfish get around? Starfish have hundreds of tiny little feet at the end of each arm. To move, They fill these feet with seawater, causing the arm to move like a footwood. This allows the starfish to move much quicker than you might expect. Starfish are not actually fish. They're actually invertebrates, which means they have no backbone or skeleton. They're related to sand dollars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and sea lilies. Since they aren't fish, scientists tend to get a little annoyed when people call them starfish, so sea stars is a more appropriate name. Sea stars do have eyes that help them to get around, and they're located, as I said earlier, on the tips of their arms. These eyes gather information to guide the sea stars from any direction. While their eyes may not be able to see and find detail like our eyes can, they are able to see different shades of lighting, which allows them to get around and allows them to hunt for food and hide from predators. So how do sea stars eat? The problem with a sea star is that their mouth is very small and it's found on the underside of their body. So after a sea star has caught their food, seastars will open the shell by gluing their feet to the outside and actually pulling the shell apart whoom. But remember their mouth is really small, so because of this, sea stars do something amazing. They can shoot out one of their stomachs. So once the sea star has opened the shell, they will shoot out their stomach into the shell and eat their food. Problem solved. The stomach actually digests the animal inside its shell and turns it into a kind of liquid soup. Ooh. Then the stomach brings the food back into the sea star for stage two of digestion. So what else can we learn about sea stars? Sea stars can regrow their body parts. Now this might sound a little bit like a superpower, but for sea stars it's just part of their daily life. Sea stars have been known to grow an entire new body from just one broken off arm, but it does take a while. It can take up to a year for a lost arm to regrow. Sea stars wear tough, leathery skin. Their upper skin is made out of calcium carbonate, which is a really strong material that makes their skin tough and difficult for hunters to break. Some species of sea stars will actually add spines onto their skin or wear colors that can camouflage them or scare away potential attackers. Not all sea stars are shaped like a star, but the majority are. However, there are a few special cases.
00:05:41
Speaker 2: The cushioned starfish has a round, blob like shape, and the spine star, the goosefoot star, and the sun star can each have up to twelve arms. So does a sea star have blood? While a seastar does have a special stomach an exceptionally well developed skin, sea stars do not have a brain or blood. Seastars live by pumping seawater through their bodies to deliver nutrients, oxygen, and other necessary fluids. The use of water saves space in their body, as there is no need for a complex blood system. Also, since seawater is everywhere, they.
00:06:48
Speaker 1: Will never run out of it. With no brain or blood, it seems crazy to think starfish can survive in the depth of the ocean. However, they are very clever and find simple ways to get around. Starfish fun facts. The scientific exploration of a s star body remains one of the most interesting biological subjects. On this planet. There are more than two thousand different species of s stars, and these have various different colors, shapes, and sizes. Sea stars could vary widely in size, with the paddle spine seastar as small as one centimeter wide and the mid guardia xandros seastar topping one point three eight meters across. Sea stars don't die of old age, but the average lifespan of a sea star is about thirty five years. Most sea stars have five arms, but some have ten, twenty, or even forty arms. Sea stars cannot survive in fresh water. They must have salt water at all times. Thank you for listening to this episode of sleep Tight Science, where we investigate the questions you have about anything science related. Our podcast starts with a question like did you know, and throughout that episode we will try to answer the question. If you have a question or there is something you would like to know more about, send us your questions or comments at hello at sleep tightscience dot com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Speaker 1: You're listening to sleep tight science. Did you know that starfish have five eyes, one at the end of each leg. Wow? So how do starfish get around? Starfish have hundreds of tiny little feet at the end of each arm. To move, They fill these feet with seawater, causing the arm to move like a footwood. This allows the starfish to move much quicker than you might expect. Starfish are not actually fish. They're actually invertebrates, which means they have no backbone or skeleton. They're related to sand dollars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and sea lilies. Since they aren't fish, scientists tend to get a little annoyed when people call them starfish, so sea stars is a more appropriate name. Sea stars do have eyes that help them to get around, and they're located, as I said earlier, on the tips of their arms. These eyes gather information to guide the sea stars from any direction. While their eyes may not be able to see and find detail like our eyes can, they are able to see different shades of lighting, which allows them to get around and allows them to hunt for food and hide from predators. So how do sea stars eat? The problem with a sea star is that their mouth is very small and it's found on the underside of their body. So after a sea star has caught their food, seastars will open the shell by gluing their feet to the outside and actually pulling the shell apart whoom. But remember their mouth is really small, so because of this, sea stars do something amazing. They can shoot out one of their stomachs. So once the sea star has opened the shell, they will shoot out their stomach into the shell and eat their food. Problem solved. The stomach actually digests the animal inside its shell and turns it into a kind of liquid soup. Ooh. Then the stomach brings the food back into the sea star for stage two of digestion. So what else can we learn about sea stars? Sea stars can regrow their body parts. Now this might sound a little bit like a superpower, but for sea stars it's just part of their daily life. Sea stars have been known to grow an entire new body from just one broken off arm, but it does take a while. It can take up to a year for a lost arm to regrow. Sea stars wear tough, leathery skin. Their upper skin is made out of calcium carbonate, which is a really strong material that makes their skin tough and difficult for hunters to break. Some species of sea stars will actually add spines onto their skin or wear colors that can camouflage them or scare away potential attackers. Not all sea stars are shaped like a star, but the majority are. However, there are a few special cases.
00:05:41
Speaker 2: The cushioned starfish has a round, blob like shape, and the spine star, the goosefoot star, and the sun star can each have up to twelve arms. So does a sea star have blood? While a seastar does have a special stomach an exceptionally well developed skin, sea stars do not have a brain or blood. Seastars live by pumping seawater through their bodies to deliver nutrients, oxygen, and other necessary fluids. The use of water saves space in their body, as there is no need for a complex blood system. Also, since seawater is everywhere, they.
00:06:48
Speaker 1: Will never run out of it. With no brain or blood, it seems crazy to think starfish can survive in the depth of the ocean. However, they are very clever and find simple ways to get around. Starfish fun facts. The scientific exploration of a s star body remains one of the most interesting biological subjects. On this planet. There are more than two thousand different species of s stars, and these have various different colors, shapes, and sizes. Sea stars could vary widely in size, with the paddle spine seastar as small as one centimeter wide and the mid guardia xandros seastar topping one point three eight meters across. Sea stars don't die of old age, but the average lifespan of a sea star is about thirty five years. Most sea stars have five arms, but some have ten, twenty, or even forty arms. Sea stars cannot survive in fresh water. They must have salt water at all times. Thank you for listening to this episode of sleep Tight Science, where we investigate the questions you have about anything science related. Our podcast starts with a question like did you know, and throughout that episode we will try to answer the question. If you have a question or there is something you would like to know more about, send us your questions or comments at hello at sleep tightscience dot com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.