Starfish leg broke off. How long before it grows into a new starfish?
I found this on a website, and it should help some. The majority of sea stars are carnivorous and feed on sponges, bryozoans, ascidians and molluscs. Other starfishes are detritus feeders (detritus = organically enriched film that covers rocks) or scavengers. Some starfish are specialized feeders, for example the crown-of-thorns that feeds on life coral polyps. Starfish have no hard mouth parts to help them capture prey. The stomach is extruded over the prey, thus surrounding the soft parts with the digestive organs. Digestive juices are secreted and the tissue of the prey liquefied. The digested food mass, together with the stomach is then sucked back in. This method can be observed, if you turn around a starfish, that sits on prey or sand - you will see the stomach retreating. Starfish are well known for their powers of regeneration. A complete new animal can grow from a small fragment such as a arm. In some species (Linckia multifora and Echinaster luzonicus) one of the arms will virtually pull itself away, regenerates and forms a new animal. Autotomy (self amputation) usually is a protective function, losing the body part to escape a predator rather than being eaten. But here it serves as a form of asexual reproduction. In other species of sea stars (Allostichaster polyplax and Coscinasterias calamaria) the body is broken into unequal parts (= fission) then the missing limbs regenerate. i don't think the mother will eat it's baby, an i think it will take a few weeks to becoma a new animal. :) hope this helps!
A starfish can grow a new arm, why can’t I?
Actually, you DO have the ability to regenerate. Just not everywhere. One good example is bone marrow. If a person loses all the bone marrow in their body (sometimes we do this to them on purpose), a little bit of bone marrow can grow and no only replace their lost bone marrow but change all their blood cells and the like (since that's where blood cells come from in the first place). Another is the liver. It is possible to donate your liver more than once. This is because they only take half your liver and put it in a recipient... and each of you ends up growing a full liver from just the part. But no. You can't grow back an arm. The difference in all this has to do with stem cells and cell destiny. As you have probably heard from the news, when we start out we are pretty much entirely stem cells. Cells which can divide and become other things. But even by the time we're born the balance has gone the other way... most of the cells in our body have lost that ability. Sections of the DNA are blocked off pretty much permanently, even in most of the stem cells you have left. So even though a few liver cells can produce a whole new liver, no amount of liver cells can produce a kidney. The reason our cells turn off huge sections of their DNA is just because we have so blasted much of it. The cells in our bodies are VERY specialized and often completely dissimilar from one another, even though they start out the same. It may not be a big deal of some starfish cells start acting weird, but if some of your brain cells go rogue and produce stomach acid then you've got a BIG problem on your hands (or in your head). So the short version is that we have to give up some of our ability to regenerate to be complex. Like your computer... if one part breaks you can't just grab a chip from somewhere else in your computer, hammer it a bit, and squish it in. That would only make things WORSE. A starfish is more like an abacus. If you lose one of the beads, you can just move a bead over from somewhere else. No big deal because they weren't too different to begin with. Hope that helps!
If a starfish's leg was cut off, would it grow back?
yes haven't you seen hulk
If a Starfish is Cut Into Pieces Did You Know Each Piece Will Grow into a Whole Starfish?
HCrane35---You say your brain is your source of information. Well, you need to upgrade your brain with better knowledge because you're wrong on your facts. While true most species of the Starfish must have the central part of the body intact to be able to regenerate, a few can grow an entire starfish from a single ray. Included in this group are the red and Blue Linckia star. The regeneration of these stars is possible due to the vital organs kept in their arms. In the wild, the Blue Linckia Sea Star is capable of regenerating a new starfish from almost ANY portion of its body that might break off, but In the home aquarium this is far less likely. Sharing on yahoo answers and having fun is what it's all about. So if you're not having fun and you think I'm being goofy, silly, and corny like your comments stated, you should not answer my question and certainly not answer it with the wrong answer.
What are the slowest animals on Earth?
Top 10 Slowest Animals In The WorldMost people know what the fastest animal in the world is, but do you know what is the slowest? No, then check out our list of the top 10 slowest animals in the world.10. ManateeImage by ahodges7The manatee may just be the most adorable animal living in the water. They have flippers but rarely use them. They stay in the shallow water and just float around very rarely reaching a speed over five miles an hour.9. Gila MonsterImage by jeffThis small looking Gila Monster lives in Australia deserts and mainly stays where it is to conserve its energy.8. NematodesImage by wikiIn 8th position of these top 10 slowest animals in the world belongs to the Nematodes. These aren’t the same things from SpongeBob. These microscopic worms feed on bacteria and are so slow they have to wait for the food come to them.7. SeahorseImage by StevenSeahorses are a mysterious characters of underwater. The top speed of a seahorse is .5 miles per hour. Seahorses even look like the most non sealant swimmers in the sea.6. SlugImage by HakanSlugs are slow animals and never reach a speed over 0.2 miles per hour. In fact the fastest slug ever recorded was .19 miles per hour.5. Koala BearImage by ArnaudKoalas are very cute animals native to Australia but move very slowly. They are currently an endangered species because of the food they eat makes them high and they sometimes fall out of the tree’s and die.4. Giant TortoiseImage by DavidThe giant Tortoise is another slow animal and it is so commoun that the term is frequently used to describe a slow person.3. Garden SnailGarden snails are slower than slugs mainly because of lugging around that big shell. Did you know that snails can sleep for three years?2. StarfishImage by AdrianA Starfish is an underwater animal and can only travel at a top speed is 0.06 miles per hour. Because of this slow speed they usually just go with the current of the ocean.1. Three-toed SlothImage by ChristianThe Sloth is the slowest animal in the world and the name sloth is actually a synonym of slow motion. The top speed of a sloth is 0.003 miles per hour they are so slow algae grow on them.
If I cut a starfish into pieces, can each piece regrow to a new starfish?
It is not so that when we cut the starfish it will grow into the two new individuals.It will only grow if the center region which is often called the Disc region is present on the removed portion. The starfish will regenerate very similar to planaria.The disc region is essential for regeneration of the starfish.Regeneration can also be accomplished by housing most or all of their vital organs in their arms.A few species can grow an entirely new sea star just from a portion of a severed limb.
Do starfish have internal organs?
Starfishes have no heart but heart is not the only organ which is present in their body there are aquifers system or canal through which water enter their body & exchange of gases takes place & that is an organ,They have respiratory bursae through which respiration takes place,they have madriporide on ab-oral side along with excretory organs.We can say that the major organs are absent like heart,brain & few essential organs which are seen in the higher grade of animals like mammals.
Starfish can reproduce asexually. If a limb breaks off, it can regenerate into a new starfish. How much of the offspring's DNA is the same as the parent's DNA in this type of reproduction?
100%. The regenerated animal is essentially a clone of the original. Also note that some of the central disc must be included for the arm to grow into an entire animal.Many invertebrates and even at least one vertebrate (Kryptolebias marmoratus) can reproduce asexually. Asexual reproduction always produces offspring with the same DNA as the parent.The purpose of sexual reproduction is genetic recombination in the offspring. It has so much evolutionary value that even many single-celled organisms and plants reproduce sexually.