Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Tangalooma Point






Starfish or now known as Sea stars, were seen by the hundreds here on Tangalooma Point. Bruce & I had a nice walk along the beach this afternoon. We're still at anchor here, and will probably be tomorrow as well as we are waiting for the strong winds to subside. (as usual!) Seeing all these sea stars on the shore caused me to do some research on them. Google is a great tool for that. The sea star is a predator and feed on sponges, mulluscs, and detritus (organically enriched film that covers rocks). They feed by extruding their stomachs over their prey. Digested juices are then secreted & the tissue of the prey liquified. They then suck their stomachs back in along with the liquified food mass. Their predator is triton trumpet, reef crab, & halequin shrimp.

No comments:

Contributors