A peculiar forcepslike organ which occurs in large numbers upon starfishes and echini.
Those of starfisheshave two movable jaws, or blades, and are usually nearly, or quite, sessile; those of echini usually have three jaws and a pedicel.
An extensive group of echinoderms, comprising the starfishes and ophiurans.
The metamorphoses of the Starfishesare also very remarkable.
These "mops" are drawn over the oyster beds and the starfishesbecome entangled in the waste and are then drawn on board the vessel.
The method of eating among some of the commonstarfishes is curious.
During the past twenty years many interesting and curious forms of starfishes have been dredged by the United States Fish Commission Steamer Albatross, in deep water, off the eastern coast of America.
Starfishes are very destructive to the oyster beds along the Atlantic coast of the United States, thousands of bushels of oysters being destroyed in a few days by them.
One of the largest and handsomest of the starfishes is the Giant Mountain Starfish (Oreaster reticulatus), so common in the waters of the Bahama Islands.
The little starfishes attack the young oysters and as the former increase in size they move about in vast numbers, resembling in this respect the grasshoppers and locusts of the west and being fully as destructive.
We made several hauls of the dredge in four to five fathoms of water, obtaining a quantity of large Starfishes and Gorgonias, and Crustaceans of the family Porcellanidae.
Formerly the group of this name included nearly all starfishes and ophiurans.
The larva of certain starfishes as developed in the free-swimming stage.
Hungry whelks, finding them, could bore round holes in them with their sharp-pointed shells and so reach the juicy babies; wandering starfishes could clasp them in their long ray-arms and swallow shell and baby whole.
Starfishes lurk in the hollows, and the tent-shaped shells of the little periwinkle encrust the wet rocks.
The hard shells of sea urchins and starfishes are made of lime.
Just so, the ancient crinoids are now almost extinct; the sea urchins and the starfishes have succeeded them.
GENUS ^Luidia^ This genus of starfishes is celebrated for its peculiar habit of breaking in pieces when taken from the water, and therefore good specimens are almost impossible to obtain.
One naturalist speaks of seeing on the coast of Maine a bed of starfishes which extended several miles and covered the bottom so closely that he picked sixty individuals off a small stone.
In observing echinoderms it will be seen that the dorsal part is carried uppermost by some, such as the starfishes and sea-urchins.
Starfishes are carnivorous and voracious, and are particularly [pg207] destructive to oyster-beds.
Starfishes regain by natural growth parts of the body which may be lost.
Some oystermen believe that the starfishes get into masses like a ball and are rolled along by the tide.
Examining the backs of different starfishes with a strong magnifying-glass, one will be surprised to see the varied grouping of the spines and pedicellariae.
In starfishes the arms are extensions of the body, and the viscera extend partway into them, while in ophiurans the body is a central disk, with the five narrow arms attached to its margin.
The sea-urchin has also a water-vascular system similar to that ofstarfishes (page 206).
All starfishes are not as prettily symmetric as our familiar five-finger.
Starfishes are remarkable for their powers of restoring lost parts.
And this power of regeneration extends so far in the case of some starfishes that if very badly mutilated they can practically regenerate the whole body.
The starfishes feed on other marine animals, especially shell-fish and crabs.
Those who have been on the seashore will recall the sea-urchins and starfishes and the sea-anemones which live in the tide-pools.
A few species are exceptions, certain starfishes showing a difference in color between males and females.
Although there are known about five hundred species of sea-cucumbers many of which live along the shores, they are much less familiar to us than the starfishes and sea-urchins.
Thus the larvae of the starfishes were called Bipinnaria, the larvae of the sea-urchins Pluteus, and so on.
We are familiarly acquainted with dogs and cats; less familiarly probably with toads and crayfishes, and we have little more than a bare knowledge of the existence of such animals as seals and starfishes and reindeer.
Some of them, thestarfishes and sea-urchins, are among the most common and familiar animals of the seashore.
Starfishes vary much in size, color and general appearance, although all are readily recognizable as starfishes (fig.
Of organs of special sense there are special tactile or touch organs in all the Echinoderms, and the starfishes have very simply composed eyes or eye-like organs at the tips of the rays.
The starfishes are found everywhere in the tropics.
These starfishes are of all shapes, kinds, and colors.
One night when the oyster men left the beds no starfishes were seen.
In its structure the sea cucumber resembles its cousins the starfishes and sea urchins, and standing on end, may be compared to an elongated sea urchin.
Defn: A peculiar forcepslike organ which occurs in large numbers uponstarfishes and echini.
Defn: An extensive group of echinoderms, comprising the starfishes and ophiurans.
The rayed form of the Starfishes led to their being at first included in the group of Radiate Animals, along with the tentacle-bearing Coelenterata; but it has long been recognised that they are animals of much higher structure.
Further, there are certain fragile starfishes that have a way of breaking themselves into pieces when dropped into spirit, or even when suddenly disturbed in almost any other manner.
Tufts of corallines and other weeds should be searched for the small and delicate starfishes that live among them, and any stones that may cover the bottom of the pool should be lifted.
In the latter case it is advisable to put the starfishes in strong spirit for a few days, changing the spirit if several specimens are put together, and then drying them as quickly as possible in the open air.
A general examination of the various starfishesto be found in our seas will show that they may be divided into three distinct groups.
Some of our common starfishes have rays so short that they may be termed angles rather than arms, and these are unable to turn their inverted bodies by the gradual method just described.
These creatures are so unlike starfishes and urchins in general appearance that the uninitiated would hardly regard them as close relatives.
All these starfishes have a leathery skin, supported and hardened by a framework of calcareous plates, and presenting a number of hard ridges or spines.
It is in fact obvious that one cannot keep on taking starfishes home and hanging them up in the hall as barometers without detriment to the coming race.
We have already told you how mischievous starfishes are in the oyster-beds.
The starfishes live upon animal food--mainly other mollusks, which they kill in a very curious manner.
Starfishes are among the oddest of sea-animals; for one reason, because they have so many legs.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "starfishes" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
