Food is essential for any living organism to continue to survive. But for land dwellers, food is easily accessible in most parts of the world. Every day we can choose what we want to eat and to choose, we use our brain to decide our meals for the day. But how about starfish? Without having a brain, how do starfish know what it is eating and from where?
Starfish is a carnivore which means it eats other animals and since it is slow-moving, starfish usually eat other slow-moving animals such as corals, clams, oysters, and mussels. Starfish have tiny tube feet under their arms that help them to move around. And at the end of each arm are long tiny tubes that can sense nearby prey around them. Once these tiny tubes sense a prey, they will start extending their tube feet. The rest of the body will follow this movement and the starfish will gallop towards the prey. The Starfish’s arms will then surround the prey to the centre of its body so that it can stretch its stomach from its mouth to digest the soft part of the prey. This soft part will turn into a soup-like texture that they can swallow easily. And that’s the meal of the day for a starfish.
