Stars of the Sea

A salty wave crashes over your back. It whips behind you, trying to peel you
away from your safeplace. And it happens over and over again. Never ending. This is
the life of a starfish, always in fear of being torn from your home. To live here you have
to have adaptations, endurance, and strength to survive the harsh underwater world.
The denotation of ecosystem is all of the living and nonliving things in a specific area.
Starfish live all over the ocean -cold and warm water- in the intertidal and Abyssal
zones. The Asteroidea, or starfish/sea star,is a benthos (an organism that lives on the
ocean floor) that is usually 12 centimeters and roughly 5 kilograms. Like all animals, the
starfish ecosystem affects everything about their lives such as their adaptations, the
food web they belong to, and the environmental threats they face.
Clearly, the starfish are tough animals but they need some special features to
thrive in this special habitat. One adaptation of the starfish has many specialized feet.
Its arms are carpeted in with hundreds of suction-like feet that help it crawl and give it
power to pry open capsuled prey. It also helps to stay fastened to things ,such as rocks,
and to hold up against tides and ocean currents (Jones 1). After opening those clams,
the starfish needs a place to safely digest them with adapted stomachs. It can consume
anything anything it can fit inside its stomach. The sea star does this by pushing a
stomach out of his body where he can securely dissolve giant prey and then haul it back
in. ( This shows how the starfish has adapted to eat whenever possible. Since meals in
the intertidal and Abyssal zones are few and far between, it does not have to skip a
meal if the prey is too large. Another helpful adaptation is the starfishs unique ability to

regrow severed limbs. If a starfish loses an arm it can regrow whatever part he needssometimes whole bodies. If a predator pounces and happens to take a bite, it will not be
permanently crippled or disabled. This ability has another special purpose. If the starfish
population is dwindling, the sea star will sever its body into two portions, creating
another starfish entirely. This helps it to reproduce quickly and efficiently without having
to find a mate. A final adaption of the versatile starfish is its unique vascular system.
Instead of having blood circulating through its body, the sea star gets its oxygen from
water continually flowing inside and outside of its body. This helps the starfish to cool its
body when temperature rise by moving to an area with the water with the desired
temperature and let course through.
Furthermore, an important part of the starfishs ecosystem (and an important part
of keeping the sea star populous in check) is its food web. In its food web, the starfish
is observed as a secondary consumer. A secondary consumer is an organism that
receives its energy from the primary or secondary consumers. This makes the sea star
a carnivore which means it only eats meat. Another part of the starfishs food web is the
mussel. This organism is prey of the starfish and seagull and its a predator to plankton.
The mussel is a primary consumer, a herbivore, who eats algae. One more vital part of
the sea stars food web is the crab. The crab preys on the starfish, mussels, and algae.
It is prey to seal and is a secondary consumer. The seagull is imperative to the food
web as well. It preys on mussels, herring, and starfish. It is considered a secondary
consumer. It is prey only to larger birds.
Another important part of the starfishs ecosystem is the environmental threats it
faces. One environmental threat to the ocean and starfish is water pollution.

Approximately 6.4 million tons of plastic and other debris enter the oceans year
pollution. (Scholastic 13). A solution to this problem is cutting down on waste by using
reusable bags and bottles. Another environmental threat is climate change. Warming
ocean waters, rising sea levels, and violent storms disrupt the lives of many species and
affect fragile marine ecosystems.(Scholastic 14). To fix this, you can help by reducing
your carbon footprint- walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation when possible. A
final coastal development and oil drilling are another example of environmental threats.
One example of the harm is seismic testing....seismic testing, a process of using loud
airguns to test the ocean floor for fuels. Seismic testing is harmful to marine life
(Southern Environmental Law Center 1). A solution to this is to write to your local
congressmen and ask and aid in the restrictions of the shore development.
Everything about a starfishs life is affected by their ecosystem, like all animals.
Their adaptations, the food web they belong to, and the environmental threats they face
are all affected by the ecosystem. A starfishs life is a rough one, but with special
adaptations, endurance, and strength, it manages to stay afloat in the ever changing
deep blue.

Work Cited

"Offshore Oil Drilling | Southern Environmental Law Center." Offshore Oil Drilling |
Southern Environmental Law Center. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

"What Are the Starfish's Adaptations to Stay Alive?" What Are the Starfish's Adaptations
to Stay Alive? N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

"Scope." Scope. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.