STARFISH MANY VARIETIES FOR CRAFTING TO COLLECTING

STARFISH

  • Starfish belong to phylum Echinoderms (see conchological terms for complete definition). class: asteroid. Star fish are often referred to as sea stars


  • The asteroid body has the form of a flattened star with arms (rays) generally numbering 5 or a multiple of 5. It is rare to see six or other number of arms. The arms join a disc like body.


  • The upper surface of the arm has the spines and other Enchinoderm features. There is usually a red eye spot at the tip of each arm.


  • The under side of the sea star has a mouth in the middle of the disc and there is an open groove from the mouth to the tip of the arm. Two or four rows of tube feet are found in each groove.


  • Sea stars travel on the tube feet. The tube feet has suckers that reach ahead and attach to solid objects; thus pulling the sea star forward. The burrowing sea star lack suckers and only push the sea star forward.


  • Sea stars feeding varies with the species. Most feed by extending their stomachs thru their mouth to envelope their food.


  • Sea stars can regenerate arms. When an arm is damaged, it is shed at a point close to the central disc. (this is why the species you receive have arms of varying development). If the arm surface is cut slightly, it can usually heal over. In some species, the lost arm can generate a central disc; thus creating a new sea star.



  • White Star Fish

    WHITE STARFISH

  • Generally speaking, the larger the starfish the more imperfections.  Many starfish are not symmetrical, this is caused by the starfish regenerating lost arms.  That is the reason some arms are longer than others.

  • B1-18
  • One White Starfish 2 to 3 inches ........ .56


  • B2-18
  • One White starfish 3 to 4 inches ........ .75


  • B3-18

  • One White Starfish 4 to 5 inches........ .95


  • B4-18
  • One White Starfish 5 to 6 inches ........ $1.10


  • B5-18
  • One White Starfish 6 to 7 inches..... $1.15


  • B6-18
  • One White Starfish 7 to 8 inches ....... $1.40


  • B7-18
  • One White Starfish 8 to 9 inches or more....... $2.45

  • B8-18 One White Starfish 9 to 10 inches....... $3.15

    B9-18 One White Starfish 10 to 11 inches....... $3.50

    WHITE DYED STARFISH

    WFS1-19

    One White Dyed Starfish 1 3/8 to 2 inches... .04

    Sugar Star Fish

    SUGAR STARFISH

    The common starfish, common sea star or sugar starfish (Asterias rubens) is the most common and familiar starfish in the north-east Atlantic. Belonging to the family Asteriidae, it has five arms and usually grows to between 4 to 12 inches across, although larger specimens (up to 21 inches across) are known. The common starfish is usually orange or brownish in color, and sometimes violet; specimens found in deeper waters are pale. The common starfish is found on rocky and gravelly substrates (the surface or material on or from which an organism lives, grows, or obtains its nourishment) where it feeds on mollusks and other benthic invertebrates.

    The common starfish is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and its range extends from Norway and Sweden, through the North Sea, round the coasts of Britain, France, Spain and Portugal and southwards along the coasts of Africa to Senegal. It is largely absent from the Mediterranean Sea. It is also known from the western Atlantic where it occurs between Labrador and Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. It is capable of surviving in brackish water (a term used to describe water that is more saline than freshwater but less saline than true marine environments. Often these are transitional areas between fresh and marine waters. An estuary, which is the part of a river that meets the sea, this is the best known example of brackish water).

    The common starfish feeds on a variety of benthic organisms. These include bivalve molluscs, polychaete worms, barnacles, gastropod molluscs, other echinoderms and carrion. When feeding on a mollusc such as a mussel, it attaches its tube feet to each shell valve and exerts force to separate them slightly. Even a gap of just 1 mm (0.04 in) is sufficient for the starfish to insert a fold of its stomach, secrete enzymes and start digesting the mollusc body. When the contents are sufficiently liquid, it brings its stomach back to its rightful position with the food inside. The common starfish has a well-developed sense of smell and can detect the odour of prey species such as the common mussel (Mytilus edulis) and crawl towards it. It can also detect the odour of the predatory common sunstar (Crossaster papposus), which eats other starfish, and take evasive action.

    The common starfish is dioecious, which means that each individual is either male or female. In the spring, the females release their eggs into the sea. A moderate sized starfish is estimated to be able to produce 2.5 million eggs. The males shed their sperm and fertilization takes place in the water column. The larvae are planktonic and drift for about 87 days before settling on the seabed and undergoing metamorphosis into juveniles. Common starfish are believed to live for about seven to eight years. When well fed, the juveniles can increase their radius at the rate of slightly more than 10 mm (0.4 in) per month during the summer and autumn and slightly less than 5 millimeters (0.20 in) per month in the winter. An adult common starfish can survive starvation for several months although it loses weight in the process. One specimen shrank from a radius of 6 centimeters (2.4 in) to a radius of 3.8 centimeters (1.5 in) after starvation for five months.

    The ciliate protozoan Orchitophrya stellarum is sometimes a parasite of the common starfish. It normally lives on the outer surface of the starfish feeding on sloughed-off epidermal tissue. It appears to become parasitic when the host starfish has ripe gonads and is a male. It enters the starfish through the gonopores, the orifices where gametes are released. There may be a pheromone that alerts it to the fact that the testes are ripe and causes it to change its behavour. As different species of starfish breed at different times of year, Orchitophrya stellarum may move from one species to another in accordance with their reproductive cycles. In the Atlantic Ocean, it may alternate between parasitize Asterias forbesi and Asterias rubens during the spring and summer and the winter host may be Leptasterias spp.. The ciliate has been found in the testes of all these species. When inside the gonad, it phagocytoses the sperm thus rendering the starfish infertile. Researchers have found a change in the sex ratios of affected populations with fewer males than females being present with the males being consistently smaller than the females.

    Scientific classification

    Domain: Eukaryota

    Kingdom: Animalia

    Phylum: Echinodermata

    Class: Asteroidea

    Order: Forcipulatida

    Family: Asteriidae

    Genus: Asterias

    Species: A. rubens

    SUGAR STARFISH

  • E0-18
  • One Sugar starfish 1 to 2 inches ........ $1.10


  • E1-18
  • One Sugar Starfish 2 to 3 inches........ $1.15


  • E2-18
  • One Sugar Starfish 3 to 4 inches or more........ $1.35


  • E3-18 One Sugar Starfish 4 to 5 inches or more........ $1.75


    E4-18 One Sugar Starfish 5 to 6 inches........ $2.10


  • E5-18
  • One Sugar Starfish 6 to 7  inches........ $2.80


  • E6-18
  • One Sugar Starfish 7 to 8 inches........ $4.25


  • E7-18
  • One Sugar Starfish 8 to 9 inches ........ $5.95

  • E8-18 One Sugar Starfish 9 to 10 inches ........ $6.95

    Jungle Starfish
      JUNGLE STARFISH
    • H0-4
    • One Jungle Starfish 2 to 4 inches ........ .69


  • H1-4
  • One Jungle Starfish 4 to 5 inches ........ .89


  • H2-4
  • One Jungle Starfish 5 to 6 inches ........  .99


  • H3-4
  • One Jungle Starfish 6 to 7 inches ........$1.75


  • H4-4
  • One Jungle Starfish 7 to 8 inches........ $2.10
  • H5-4

    One Jungle Starfish 8 to 9 inches ........ $2.75



  • H6-4
  • One Jungle Starfish 9  to 11 inches ........ $2.95
  • Knobby Starfish  1/16/13

    KNOBBY SEA STARS(starfish)

  • Scientific name: Echinaster echinophorus

  • F0-18

  • One Knobby Starfish approximately 1 1/2 to 2 3/8 inches ........ .49


  • F1-18
  • One Knobby Starfish 2 1/2 to 4 inches........ .69


  • F2-18
  • One Knobby Starfish 4 to 6 inches ........ .79


  • F3-18
  • One Knobby Starfish 6 to 7 inches ........ .99


  • F5-18
  • One Knobby Starfish 7 to 8 inches .....  $1.15


  • F4-18
  • One Knobby Starfish 9 to 10 inches ........ $2.95


  • Brown Star Fish

    BROWN SEA STARS(starfish)

  • B1-19
  • One Brown Starfish 3/4 inch or less sizes are approximate........ OUT OF STOCK


  • B2-19

  • One Brown Starfish 1 3/8 inch or less sizes are approximate........ OUT OF STOCK
  • B3-19

  • One Brown Starfish 1 inch or more..... OUT OF STOCK
  • B4-19

  • One Brown Starfish 1 3/8 inches or more...... .35



  •  Thorn Star Fish

    CROWN OF THORNS STARFISH(starfish)

  • The Crown of Thorn starfish are considered pests. These specimen are from the tropical Pacific near Australia. Crown of Thorn star fish attack Coral Reefs and have few predators.


  • Crown of Thorn starfish color can vary depending on how much sunlight exposure they have received. They tend to be more dark brown than redish.


  • I0-19
  • One Crown of Thorns Starfish 4 to 6 inches........ .75


  • I3-19
  • One Crown of Thorns Starfish 6 to 8 inches........ .95


  • Multi Leg Star Fish

    MULTI LEG OR SUN STARFISH

  • MS1-18
  • One Multi Leg starfish 2 to 4 inches...…  .79


  • MS2-18
  • One Multi Leg starfish 4 to 6 inches .......  1.05


  • MS3-18
  • One Multi Leg Sea star 6 to 6 7/8 inches.......  $1.95


  • MS4-18 One Multi Leg Sea star 7 to 8 inches....... $2.45


    White Knobby Star Fish

    WHITE KNOBBY STARFISH

  • These sea stars  have been bleached white.

  • F0-18W
  • One White Knobby Starfish 2 to 3 inches ........  OUT OF STOCK
  • FW2-18
  • One White Knobby Starfish 3 to 4 inches ......  .39


  • FW3-18 One White Knobby Starfish 4 to 5 inches ........ .59



  • F3-18W
  • One White Knobby Starfish 5 to 6 inches........ OUT OF STOCK
  • White Common Starfish

    White Common Starfish

  • White Common Starfish are dyed starfish. These come from the various types offered on our site
  • H1-18
  • One White Common Starfish 3 to 5 inches ...... .39



  • H2-18

  • One White Common Starfish 5 to 5 3/8 inches ...... .75


  • Bat Starfish

    Bat Starfish

  • The Bat Star fish, Asterina miniata, is so named because of its resemblance to a bat. The arms are not as clearly separated as with other species, but more distinct than those of a "sand dollar". They come in a wide variety of colors. Like other starfish they mate by "broadcasting" their gametes (eggs and sperm) into the water. This is roughly synchronized but they do it whether there are other starfish around or not. Bat stars are often scavengers but they can also be predatory. Small annelids (worms) liven in their oral grooves. This doesn't seem to harm the bat star, but it is unclear what, if anything, the bat star gains from this relationship. Bat stars can grow to 8 inches across and are found on the west coast of North America from Alaska to Baja California. They have an important role as scavengers. One unusual feature of the Bat Star fish is that the plates that make up its outer skin are so large and well defined that they are quite clearly visible and some have compared them to shingles. Just as humans normally have five fingers but some individuals have extras, bat starfish normally have five arms but sometimes have as many as nine arms. Bat Star fish can be found from the intertidal zone out to a depth of about 950 feet. Bat stars are known to eat other species of starfish on occasion. Sometimes fights occur between Bat stars which take the form of arm wrestling where each tries to get its arm on top of the other one.


  • BS0-18
  • One Bat Starfish 3 to 4 inches...... .69


  • BS1-18
  • One Bat Starfish 4 to 6 inches.......  .75


  • Blue Starfish

    Pencil Starfish

  • The Pencil Starfish, also called finger starfish. Their natural color is varied shades of blue to blue gray. They are a tropical species, often sold dyed white. See our listing of white starfish.


  • Generally speaking, the larger the starfish the more imperfections.

  • D4-18
  • One Pencil Starfish 2 to 3 inches (most are over two inches)....OUT OF STOCK
  • D0-18

  • One Pencil Starfish 3 to 4 inches.... .59


  • D1-18

  • One Pencil Starfish 4 to 6 inches..... .69


  • D2-18

  • One Pencil Starfish 6 to 7 inches ..... .79


  • D3-5-18

  • One Pencil Starfish 8 to 11 inches..... $1.59




  • DYED RED STARFISH


    E2R-19


    One Dyed Red Starfish 1 inch or less..... .04




    DYED BLUE STARFISH


    E2B-19


    One Dyed Blue Starfish 1 inch or less..... .04




    DYED TAN STARFISH


    E1-19


    One Dyed Tan Starfish 1/2 inch or less..... OUT OF STOCK


    E2-19


    One Dyed Tan Starfish 5/8 to 1 1/4 inches..... .03




    E3-19


    One Dyed Tan Starfish 1 1/4 to 2 inches..... .04




    E4-19


    One Dyed Tan Starfish 2 to 2 1/2 inches..... .17




    E5-19


    One Dyed Tan Starfish approximately 2 5/8 to 3 1/2 inches..... .19




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