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Sea Star Animal Study and Lapbook
Research by Debbie Palmer
Templates by Ami
Sea Star Lapbook Templates
Book List
Pagoo
by Holling C. Holling. This book is about a hermit crab, but does contain some
information on sea stars.
A House for Hermit Crab
by Eric Carle
Starfish
by Edith Thacher Hurd (Let's Read and Find Out Science)
Vocabulary
Enchinodermata-comes from the Greek, meaning "spiny skin". This group includes
sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, and sea lilies.
Asteroidea-comes from the word, "asteroid". These animals are star shaped.
Ventral side-underneath part of a sea star
Dorsal side-the top or spiny surface of a sea star
Cardiac stomach-the stomach that comes outside of the sea star's body to grab the food
Pyloric stomach-this stomach digests the food.
Tropical-hot and humid
Temperate-neither hot nor cold
Polar-extremely cold, the areas at the top and the bottom of the world
Omnivore-eating both plants and animals
Zooplankton-small or microscopic animals that float in the oceans
Phytoplankton-microscopic plant life that floats in the oceans
Radial symmetry-animals have radial symmetry if they have no right or left sides, only a top and a bottom. They can be "cut" into equal or similar sections.
Bilateral symmetry-animals that have bilateral symmetry have a left and right side. Each side is the mirror image of the other side.
Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Enchinodermata
Class: Asteroidea
Physical Traits
(Anatomy)
Sea
stars have radial symmetry, which means that their arms radiate (like the sun's
rays) from the central part of the body. They tend to have five arms or
multiples of five arms. At the end of each arm is a microscopic eye which allow
the sea star to only see light and dark and detect movement. They also have
spines on their skin for protection. Although there are many species of sea
stars that don't really have spines, but have a bumpy texture. The ventral side
has the "mouth" in the center and the tube feet on the arms. Sea stars have two
stomachs: the cardiac stomach and the pyloric stomach. The cardiac stomach can
come out of the body and envelope the food. The cardiac stomach begins the
digestion process. The food is then transferred to the pyloric stomach to be
digested. The sea star's tube feet are located on the ventral side. They have
two functions. They aid in movement and can be used to open scallops or clams.
Habitat and Diet
Sea
stars live in tropical, temperate and polar oceans. They are normally found
around rocks and coral, but can be found living in the sand. Sea stars cannot
live in fresh water. Sea stars are omnivores. Their diet tends to be shellfish
such as scallops, oysters, clams or plant material.
Growth (Life
cycle)
Sea
stars start as very small larva that float/swim in the ocean. They become a
part of zooplankton for about two months and have bilateral symmetry. They
survive feeding on phytoplankton. After that they settle out of the zooplankton
and begin to develop radial symmetry.
Locomotion
Sea
stars move using their tube feet. The feet latch onto surfaces and move in a
wave. One body section attaches to a surface as another body section releases.
Sea stars are very slow moving. There are a few species that can move rapidly
along the sea floor.
Regeneration
Regeneration means that a missing body part can be regrown. Some sea stars are
capable of regrowing arms. Most species need the central part of the body unhurt
to be able to regrow an arm. However, there are some stars that can regrow a
whole new body from a single ray.
Species of
Starfish
There
are over 1800 species of sea stars! Some of the most well-known stars are
*Blue sea star
*Japanese sea star
*Carpet sea star
*Eleven-armed sea star
*Pincushion sea star
*Comb sea star
*Crown of thorns sea star
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