STARFISH
Steve McGarity's

Ten best Starfish links

 

"This, of course, is a starfish. Your basic echinoderm, you know, spiny skin and all that Greek stuff. Anyways, this guy is a bottom dweller, basically enjoying life in the mud lane. He eats dead stuff, and barnacles and other shellfish. The way he eats shellfish is kind of neat- after prying them open, he actually sticks his stomach into the poor hapless mollusk, and enjoys the ultimate in little necks on the halfshell." (image and information from http://www.projo.com/horizons/postcards/starinfo.htm)


 


Echinoderm Links - the complete collection of Echinoderm links with electronic newletter, image collections, information on researchers and connections to most of the starfish sites.
British Columbia Creature Page - good page on the starfish and other Echinoderms of British Columbia with links to each of them featuring information on the Latin name, range, as well as scuba diver and beachwalker pertinent information.
UK underwater wildlife - good underwater photography of eight echinoderms with common and Latin names indicated (the above picture by Andrew D. Johnson is from this collection - it is Asterias rubens or the Common starfish).
The CAS Echinoderm Web Page - information on Echinoderm resources, research, holdings and conference information with a good introduction and other links from the California Academy of Sciences: "The Echindermata is a phylum of exclusively marine invertebrates with a fossil record extending back to the Precambrian."

Morphology of Echinodermata - from Berkeley: "Echinoderms have been compared to living, moving castles."
The Caribbean Tourism Organization - Caribbean starfish facts sheet: "Class Asteroidea is the best known of the Echinoderms and contains 1500 known species." (starfish are the class Asteroidea)
General Discussion - complete scientific discussion on the population density, size-frequency and reproducctive data for an assemblage of shallow water, coral-reef starfish (Asteroidea) gathered over 5 years on Heron Reef near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
Odyssey Expeditions Curriculum Outline - this one I give you free since it isn't exactly about starfish but it has a really great on-line science course with nice, understandable stuff on fishes, general ecology, marine ecology and coral reef fish ecology- this site is well-done.
The Starfish Page - nice picture and basic information on the popular orange, marbled or red starfish which is popular with hobbyists (includes feeding instructions)
Tell-Tail Newsletter from Starfish Enterprises - New Jersey's only on-line Quarterly Newsletter for Marine Ecology enthusiasts. (this issue has an article on Killing the Coral Reefs which is of great concern to starfish)
Gurukul Philosophy - zen philosophy of starfish reclamation.