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.
