Starfishes

Jun 6, 2021

2 min read

Fun fact Starfishes can regenerate their own arms

Searching

“Environment is no one’s property to destroy; it’s everyone’s responsibility to protect. – Mohith Agadi”

We were searching for fishes in the ocean and then we saw starfishes instead and many different kinds of fishes. We were so fascinated by the starfishes that we found and took them out of the water. We were taking pictures of them to share on our social media. But little did we know that by taking them out of the water, we were killing them. Weeks after we went on our little family vacation I read an article about how starfishes die when you take them out of the water.

What happens when you take a starfish out of the water?

Like all marine animals, starfishes are a body that found in the sea for a simple reason: They do not breath air. Although this is very logical, some people are captivated by their beauty without think about the damage that they could suffer.

Maybe you heard someone say that if you take a starfish out of the water immediately dies in 1 minute, 5 minutes, etc. It is not something that happens exactly in 1 minute, but if you put and remove them for several times, even for less than 30 seconds, they could die. We explain you why and what you can do to protect them.

The starfish captures oxygen in the water for breathing process through these skin gills and when these species are removed from their aquatic habitat, they can not perform gas exchange for their life cycles, which they suffer poisoning of dioxide or carbon monoxide and they die in a short time, it means that they drown in 3 to 5 minutes depending on the specimen.

I was heartbroken when I read the article. Finding out that the starfishes that we took out of the water that day had drowned. Now, to some people, this wasn’t really that big of a deal. But for me it was. I guess it will be a big deal when it would be reported on the news that starfishes are going extinct. And then that’s the time that we would take action...when it’s too late. Here are some tips on how to protect starfishes:

Pick up your trash (and other people’s) on the beach You’re not just cleaning up the environment, but also teaching (by example) others who are enjoying the natural resources about responsible tourism.
Avoid picking up starfishes from beaches.
Share this information with friends and acquaintances. The more people will know, the faster we will stop practicing these bad habits that damage this natural treasure of our beaches.