Ofiurae Sea Star

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Among the many starfish that inhabit the Mediterranean Sea we find the funny Ofiure known  brittle starfish: OphiodermatidaeStella Serpentina Liscia Ofiura Ophioderma Longicauda intotheblue.it

La Stella Serpentina Liscia – The Brittle Starfish – Ophiodermatidae – intotheblue.it

They belong to the phylum Echinodermata, class Ophiuroidea, to the family Ophiodermatidae. The brittle starfish: Ophiodermatidae is present throughout the Mediterranean Sea and generally lives hidden in the crevices of the cliffs or sheltered under rocks or debris present in the sea. We find it with great ease starting from the surface up to the depth of a hundred meters, but as soon as it is sighted it immediately puts itself on the run to find a safe place to shelter even from the light. The body is flattened in the shape of a pentagon from which five very thin arms depart with a skeleton made up of calcareous plates not welded together so as to allow a considerable capacity for movement.

The unique feature of all starfish is their ability to reproduce even large parts of their body. In fact, if you take a starfish and break off a few arms in a short time, the star will reproduce the arms that have been removed to return exactly to the previous one; not only but having the ophiuroides this great regenerative capacity, as we have just said, one fifth of the central disk is enough to regenerate the whole animal.

As you can see from the movie the brittle starfish: Ophiodermatidae has an exceptional agility managing to move with great speed with respect to the other starfishes and therefore to procure quickly a shelter among the rocks to get safe. The pedicels located in the ventral part are devoid of suction cups and the anal opening is missing. They are voracious and generally feed on planktonic animals that they catch with pedicels, but if happen to catch crustaceans or small worms then use your arms. They reproduce by laying down the eggs that are left in the water. Some species keep the eggs in incubation in the genital bags until the little ones take on the appearance of adults. A curious and interesting aspect is that some Ofiure become luminescent when disturbed, there are others that have poisonous spines. Stella Serpentina Liscia Ofiura Ophioderma Longicauda intotheblue.it

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