STARFISHES 207 



ularly destructive to oyster-beds. The animal fastens itself to a 

 bivalve, and protrudes a part of its stomach, with which it envel- 

 ops its prey and slowly sucks it out of its shell. When feeding 

 on small mollusks they take them into the stomach directly. 

 Starfishes regain by natural growth parts of the body which 

 may be lost. Sometimes the animal throws off an arm to escape 

 capture, and self -mutilation also occurs where unfavorable con- 

 ditions exist. Oystermen formerly were ignorant of the star- 

 fish's wonderful powers of regeneration, and were in the habit 

 of cutting up those captured in their forks and throwing them 

 overboard, thus increasing the number instead of destroying their 

 enemies, as each arm with a piece of the body attached to it 

 will, it is said, become a new individual. This tenacity of life 

 makes starfishes difficult to destroy, and they are exceedingly 

 plentiful in all seas. One naturalist speaks of seeing on the 

 coast of Maine a bed of starfishes which extended several miles 

 and covered the bottom so closely that he picked sixty individ- 

 uals off a small stone. On the northern shores of the Pacific 

 coast they abound in great variety, and some are of unusual size. 

 Asterias gigantea of this region measures two feet across. Another 

 species, Phyncopodia helianthoides, measures a yard in diameter, 

 and has twenty or more arms. The most common species of the 

 Atlantic coast are Asterias vulgaris and A. Forbesii ; the former 

 ranges from Long Island northward, the latter from Massachu- 

 setts to Florida. These are the species particularly destructive 

 to oyster-beds. Asterias vulgaris sometimes grows to be fifteen 

 inches in diameter ; from this, which is perhaps the largest, are 

 found starfishes of all sizes down to the very small Cribrella. 

 They inhabit all varieties of bottoms, from low- water mark to 

 deep water. They are not always abundant in the same place, 

 but seem to move about. 



Some oystermen believe that the starfishes get into masses like 

 a ball and are rolled along by the tide. This idea comes from 

 the fact that an oyster-bed may be free from them one day and 

 the next be covered by these pests. To get rid of them the beds 

 are swept over with a tangle, which is an iron bar holding swabs 

 of raveled rope. The spines of the starfish are caught in the 



