The most instantly recognisable sea creature on the planet, Starfish can bring hours of amusement to youngsters as they paddle among them on beaches and in rock pools during the summer months.

Starfish are famous for being multi-limbed, and for having the remarkable ability of being able to re-grow any number of lost limbs; providing the central disc, which contains the nervous system, isn’t destroyed. Indeed, some Starfish can split in two to form two new Starfish, with each individual re-growing the lost limbs!

The two species of Starfish commonly found round the Irish shores are the Common and Spiny Starfish. Each of these Starfish usually have five legs, but some species, such as the Sun Star, can have as many as thirteen legs.

Starfish will scavenge on any food they can find, but the staple of their diet are bi-valve molluscs, especially Mussels. They are able to use a kind of hydraulic action to prize open the two halves of the Mussel shell with the suckers on the underside of their arms. Once the shell has been opened, the Starfish ejects its own stomach through its mouth and into the Mussel, where it digests the flesh directly! The stomach is then retracted back into the Starfish’s abdomen, and the empty Mussel shell discarded.