Asked by: Krasen Aparecida
pets fish and aquariums

What are predators of sea stars?

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Many different animals eat sea stars,including fish, sea turtles, snails, crabs, shrimp, otters,birds and even other sea stars. Though the seastar's skin is hard and bumpy, a predator can eat itwhole if its mouth is large enough.


People also ask, what are the predators of starfish?

Sharks, manta rays, Alaskan king crabs and even otherstarfish prey upon them.

  • Sharks. Only sharks that swim near the bottom of the sea eatstarfish.
  • Manta Rays. Manta rays are large dark-brown or black seacreatures closely related to the shark.
  • Alaskan King Crabs.
  • Starfish.

Secondly, who eats starfish in food chain? But starfish do have a few predators, ornatural enemies. Manta rays, some sharks and other large, bonyfishes like to pick starfish off the bottom of the ocean,crunch them up and eat them. In addition, smallstarfish need to be on the lookout for largerstarfish, which will sometimes attack, kill and eatthem.

Similarly, it is asked, how do sea stars avoid predators?

Some starfish are experts at digging into thesand, helping them hide from the watchful eyes of predators.Sand-sifting starfish, for example, flip up the sand to seekprey, but they also burrow and toss sand over their bodies whenfeeling the stress of nearby predators.

What is the sea stars habitat?

Distribution and habitat Starfish species inhabit all of the world'soceans. Habitats range from tropical coral reefs, rockyshores, tidal pools, mud, and sand to kelp forests, seagrassmeadows and the deep-sea floor down to at least 6,000 m(20,000 ft). The greatest diversity of species occurs in coastalareas.

Related Question Answers

Teodocia Jmelkov

Professional

How do I know if my starfish is dying?

The body of the starfish should be firm-looking,and not limp. Carefully touch the starfish on its undersidebefore picking him up. If he's healthy, his tube feet shouldretract. If you've carefully examined and touched him, andstill are not sure as to whether he is a alive ordead, try gently picking him up.

Dovie Davidyants

Professional

Do people eat starfish?

Yes, starfish is technically edible. Seagulls areable to eat the entire starfish. I didn't know aboutstarfish-on-a-stick (thanks Michael Vella) but sea urchinsare very closely related to starfish and these are happilyeaten in sushi restaurants.

Basiliano Chamosa

Professional

How long does a starfish live?

35 years

Lisandra Place

Explainer

What eats a manta ray?

Manta-Eating Sharks
Among the shark species mentioned in the literature asprobable manta hunters are the bull shark and tiger shark,both apex predators in the manta's tropical and subtropicalrange.

Tracee Francas

Explainer

What animal eats a turtle?

A turtle's predators depend on its species aswell as its location. Common predators for the paintedturtle and other land turtles include skunks,raccoons, gulls, foxes, ravens, weasels, crows, herons and otherturtles, such as the snapping turtle, while seaturtle predators include killer whales andsharks.

Coleman Baute

Explainer

Do starfish eat algae?

What do Starfish Eat in the Ocean? In the wild,one sea star can eat over 50 small clams in a week. Mollusksare easy for them to find and eat because they are slowmoving and usually attached to rocks and other surfaces. They willalso eat small fish and some species eat detritus,decomposed plants and algae.

Seraj Barroso

Pundit

How many starfish can you have in a tank?

Multiple Starfish
For smaller starfish, you'll needan aquarium that's at least 50 to 100 gallons, depending onhow many you add. Multiple larger starfish need morespace, such as tanks of 150 or 180gallons.

Yamadou Mulyarchik

Pundit

Do birds eat starfish?

Many different animals eat sea stars, includingfish, sea turtles, snails, crabs, shrimp, otters, birds andeven other sea stars. Though the sea star's skin is hard andbumpy, a predator can eat it whole if its mouth is largeenough.

Nobuko Scharpenberg

Pundit

How does a sea star eat?

When the prey is opened, the sea star pushes itsstomach out of its body and into the bivalve, secreting enzymesthat digest the prey's soft body tissues. The liquefied bivalve isthen absorbed into the stomach. Sea stars feed often, andtheir size depends on the amount of food they eat, not ontheir age.

Gladys Mojonero

Pundit

Can sea stars smell?

Starfish vary widely in appearance. Starfishcan tell light from dark, but are unlikely to see much morethan that. The sense of smell, however, is quite sensitive.Chemoreceptors on the starfish's skin can detect thefaintest smell of its prey (clams), and even determine thedirection from which it is coming.

Fletcher Jonkmanns

Pundit

How many tube feet does a sea star have?

All starfish resemble stars, and thoughthe most common have only five arms, some of these animalscan grow up to 40 arms. The amazing seacreatures—part of a group of animals known asechinoderms—travel using their tube feet.

Si Hinsching

Teacher

Can starfish harm you?

A starfish is marine creature that normallyinhabits the deep ocean floors. Some species are venomous to humanbeings. Starfish do not attack humans, but caninflict painful stings with the release of venom, when they areaccidently stepped upon or handled.

Levent Lagarda

Teacher

Is a sea star a vertebrate?

Starfish have no backbone, or bones at all forthat matter (although they do have a sort of internal skeletoncomposed of calcium carbonate), so they fall into the category ofinvertebrate. Starfish are officially grouped within theclass Asteroidea (sea stars) within the phylum Echinodermata(echinoderms).

Tomeu Demir

Teacher

Is a starfish a fish?

Starfish aren't fish - finned, tailedanimals with backbones - they are echinoderms, which are marineinvertebrates. So scientists prefer to call these animals seastars. Although sea stars don't have gills, tails or scales likefish do, they have eyes - one at the end of each of theirarms.

Moumna Petisco

Teacher

Why are starfish important to humans?

The existence of starfish species creates jobsfor people in different ways. For example, U.S. law empowers andfinances the Secretary of Commerce to cooperate with leaders inislands such as Hawaii to monitor and study starfish to helphuman beings better understand them.

Touriya Tolksdorf

Reviewer

Do starfish have eyes?

Animals & Nature
While it may not look like starfish have eyes,they do, although they're not like our eyes. Astarfish has eyespots that cannot see much in the way ofdetails but can detect light and dark. These eyespots are at thetip of each of the starfish's arms.

Tula Casabayo

Reviewer

How long can Starfish survive out of water?

Is it true that starfish die after a few secondsout of the water? The short answer is that mostspecies of star can be out of the water for ashort period of time without harm. BUT - there is a large variationby species: The longest I've personally seen a star survive outof water was about 28 hours.

Jinlian Cimander

Reviewer

Who eats plankton?

The phytoplankton are eaten by swarms of tinyanimal plankton, called zooplankton. The zooplankton arethen eaten in vast numbers by fish and other marine creatures.Plankton are the first link in the oceanic food chain, vitalto all ocean life. The whale shark consumes 2.2–3.3 tons(2–3 tonnes) of plankton a day.

Aneudy Gelhard

Reviewer

What eats a whale?

The great white shark is the main species of shark thatoccasionally eats whales. Aside from sharks, the only othercreature that ever eats a whale is the orca, or killerwhale, which is the largest member of the dolphin family andnot really a whale at all.

Co-Authored By:

EveryThingWhat Staff Editor

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5th May, 2020

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