BRANCHED STARFISH.
This is the most curious species of Asterias, or Sea Star. They are
crustaceous animals, and many of the species are noxious to oysters,
others to cod-fish, &c.
The species represented by the Cut, has five rays, dividing into
innumerable lines or branches. The mouth is in the centre, armed with
sharp teeth, which convey the food into the body, and from this mouth
goes a separate canal through the rays. These the animal, in swimming,
spreads like a net to their full length; and when it perceives any prey
within them, draws them in again with all the dexterity of a fisherman.
It is an inhabitant of every sea; and is called by some the Magellanic
starfish and _basketfish_. When it extends its rays fully, it forms a
circle of nearly three feet in diameter; and Blumenbach tells us that
82,000 extremities have been reckoned in one of these curious creatures.
In another species of the Asterias, the power of reproduction is
particularly-striking. "I possess one," says Blumenbach, "in which
regeneration had begun of the 4 rays that had been removed out of 5
which it originally possessed.
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