Beneath almost every rock along the New England coast, and under the branch coral in the tropics, we may find a typical star-shaped animal, and by dredging offshore, thousands are brought up, even from very deep water, showing that the stars of the sea are almost as plentiful as they appear in the sky above. These starfishes are of all shapes, kinds, and colors. Some are a foot or more across, huge, domed fellows with rough backs, showing little if any signs of life (Fig. 48); others have five long legs and a small body (Fig. 49). Others, again, are perfectly round and have many rays, while some have few rays which are round, like the body of a snake, and which they whip and slash about, displaying great activity. Once in reaching beneath a coral branch to find a certain shell which I knew lived there, my hand grasped something which felt like a ball of snakes, each of which closed about it, producing a most disagreeable sensation. I drew it out and found it was one of the starfishes, common on many shores as the basket starfish (Fig. 47). As I lifted it up it was a veritable mass of coiling arms, a Medusa's head of the sea, coiling and uncoiling. It was merely a starfish in which each arm branches in two parts, each branching out into two again with the result pictured, a confused mass of arms. As I lifted my capture above water and it felt the air it began to shed its arms, so that it fairly rained pieces of starfish, and before I reached the boat, but a few feet away, all that remained was the body. My starfish had almost committed suicide.

The starfishes are found everywhere in the tropics. Every bunch of coral contains scores of them. Many resemble spiders, and are a vivid red hue, others are bronze or brick red, while still others are barred or spotted, as in Figure 50. They are all interesting creatures, especially our common Eastern starfish, which is found in little caves at low tide, clinging to the walls. It is not very attractive in appearance, and apparently not disconcerted by being left by the tide.

If we take a common starfish and turn it upon its back, we observe that the lower portion is covered with short tentacles, each having a little sucker on the end. These are the feet of the starfish, by which it walks or moves. In the center of the body is the mouth leading into the stomach which reaches into each ray. The eyes are at the tip of each ray. On the back of the star we find a little red disk with a rough surface. This is really a sieve for straining the water which pours in through a little canal encircling the mouth and leading off into each arm, carrying water to each one of the myriads of feet.

The feet move independently, and the starfish walks much faster than would be imagined. This can be illustrated by the sudden appearance of the starfish, in Long Island Sound. One night when the oyster men left the beds no starfishes were seen. The following day they were there in such vast quantities that it was estimated they covered the entire bed, two or three deep, and tens of thousands of dollars were lost by the destruction of the oysters.

How an oyster can be opened by a soft, helpless starfish would seem a mystery; but it is a very easy matter. The starfish drags itself over the shell and places its mouth at the end, extending its long arms downward, literally swallowing part of the shell. It is supposed to eject some secretion into the shell that causes it to open.