Eating is the nature of every creature, but it is said that some marine creatures are very peculiar when they eat. Recently, there have been rumors on the Internet that starfish spit out their stomachs when they eat, is this true? With strong curiosity, the truth team came to the Beijing Aquarium to explore the truth.
Beijing Aquarium is currently the world's largest inland aquarium, with more than 1,000 species and tens of thousands of marine fish and creatures raised and displayed in different venues. Along the way, through the different venues, the quiet and magnificent ocean world, with a variety of colorful and strange marine life, in it, as if to start a trip around the sea, attracting many tourists to visit. And where is the starfish we are looking for this time?
Entering the undersea circumnavigation area, inside an exhibition tank, we finally found the figure of starfish. The tiny starfish has a symmetrical distribution of five horns and looks very much like a standard five-pointed star. Some starfish also have very beautiful patterns, and their unique appearance attracts many children to stop and watch.
So, when starfish eats, does it really spit out its stomach?
We began to look closely, and the bottom of the starfish was covered with many small antennae and dense suction cups, and although it moved very slowly, each antennae was very sensitive, and its mouth was in the middle of the body. So, how exactly does it eat? So we began to wait patiently. More than 3 hours have passed, and starfish does not seem to have any intention of moving. It seems that it is not easy to see starfish eating.
It was at this time, in another display tank, that finally a starfish began to eat. Captured by macro lenses, we find a white transparent object appearing in the middle of starfish's body, enveloping the food. So, will this white transparent object be the stomach of a starfish?
Liu Xinchen, chief engineer of Beijing Wildlife Park: "Starfish belong to the same kind of animals as sea cucumbers and sea urchins, and most starfish are five-radial symmetry. It will have an opening on the ventral surface with a very short esophagus, which is its stomach. Starfish's stomach is divided into two parts, the part near the mouth is called the cardia stomach, and the other part is called the pyloric stomach. Starfish's food consists of small clams, scallops, or other animals that may be encountered on the ocean floor, essentially a carnivore. Sometimes starfish encounter some foods that are more difficult to digest, and at this time it will stick its stomach out of the body. Starfish's stomach carries a digestive enzyme that injects food into digestive enzymes, and after digestion, it wraps the food in the stomach, retracts it into the mouth, and then returns to the body to digest the food. ”
Through expert answers, we learned that when starfish eats large pieces of food, it spits out its stomach and then uses its body to completely cover and swallow the food. After eating, the residue will be discharged from the mouth again. So, what is unique about starfish in addition to this way of eating?
Liu Jianyong, a science popularizer at the Beijing Aquarium, said: "Starfish's regeneration ability is very strong, and after one of its brachiopods is broken, a new brachiopod will grow after a period of time." Some finger starfish have a stronger regenerative ability, and even a broken brachiopod can regenerate a complete starfish. Starfish, like some of our common echinoderm sea cucumbers, sea urchins, etc., will consume a lot of carbon in the ocean during its growth process, which greatly reduces the carbon content in the atmosphere and plays a very important role in our environmental protection. ”
Experts also tell us that starfish are echinoderms with sea cucumbers and sea urchins, and most of them are pentagonal shapes. But in addition, there are some polyangular starfish, such as solar starfish, round starfish and so on.
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