BEACHCOMBERS BLOG
The sea is always depositing fascinating things on our shores.
Forever changing, always something new.
I plan to share some of my discoveries here, and I hope you'll
share yours too!
One foggy fall morning, I discovered a very bright orange starfish at the tide line. It was unusual for its 16 arms! It's called the "SUNFLOWER STAR," the largest sea star in the PNW, and one of the largest in the world. This fellow is a voracious and speedy carnivore. found up and down the Pacific coast from Alaska to California. These clustered stars have been found to be feeding on barnacles and mussels and seem to enter a state of low activity during the cold winter months.
The sunflower star eats just about anything in its path. Its prey include green and red sea urchins, clams dug from sandy substrates by excavating large pits, scallops, abalone, snails, barnacles and occasionally, other sea stars. This star has a very large, eversible cardiac stomach that can envelop and digest prey outside its body.
Several creatures exhibit striking escape responses when attacked by a hunting sunflower star. The NORTHERN ABALONE twists its shell violently and glides away on its muscular foot, and the NUTTALL'S COCKLE extends its spring-like muscular foot and forcefully pole-vaulting itself away from the predator.
When attacked by a relative called the MORNING SUN STAR, the SUNFLOWER STAR can deliberately cast off (a process known as autotomy) an entire ray, making good its escape by sacrificing a single ray to the predator. This ability is possible due to specialized connective tissue that can rapidly change its tensile strength. Look carefully at the picture and you'll see a single arm being autotomized.