Baby starfish scoop up food by spinning miniature whirlpools. These vortices catch algae and draw them close so the larva can slurp them up, researchers, including Dr. William Gilpin et al from Stanford University report in Nature Physics (12/19/16).
Before starfish, which are not fish but echinoderms, take on their familiar shape, they freely swim ocean waters as millimeter-sized larvae.
To swim around on the hunt for food, the larvae paddle the water with hair-like appendages called cilia.
Starfish larvae also adjust the orientation of these cilia to fine-tune their food-grabbing vortices.
Researchers studied larvae of the bat star (Patiria miniata), a starfish found on the U.S. Pacific coast,
by observing their activities in seawater suffused with tiny beads that traced the flow of liquid. (Does this remind you a bit of Obi, the parrotlet, and observing the air around him that was suffused with aerosol droplets as he flew?)
Too many swirls can slow a larva down, the scientists found, so the baby starfish adapts to the task at hand, creating fewer vortices while swimming and whipping up more of them when stopping to feed.
A video of the experiment is linked here.
And I thought we were supposed to wait an hour after eating before swimming. . .
A post on starfish the week we lost two stars, Carrie Fisher and her mom, Debbie Reynolds? Twin stars/spirits, born of an instant. Rest easy together, ladies.
Starrily,
Steph
My artist friend, Judith's, words to Don T. on a clay tablet:
Before starfish, which are not fish but echinoderms, take on their familiar shape, they freely swim ocean waters as millimeter-sized larvae.
To swim around on the hunt for food, the larvae paddle the water with hair-like appendages called cilia.
Starfish larvae also adjust the orientation of these cilia to fine-tune their food-grabbing vortices.
Researchers studied larvae of the bat star (Patiria miniata), a starfish found on the U.S. Pacific coast,
by observing their activities in seawater suffused with tiny beads that traced the flow of liquid. (Does this remind you a bit of Obi, the parrotlet, and observing the air around him that was suffused with aerosol droplets as he flew?)
Too many swirls can slow a larva down, the scientists found, so the baby starfish adapts to the task at hand, creating fewer vortices while swimming and whipping up more of them when stopping to feed.
A video of the experiment is linked here.
And I thought we were supposed to wait an hour after eating before swimming. . .
A post on starfish the week we lost two stars, Carrie Fisher and her mom, Debbie Reynolds? Twin stars/spirits, born of an instant. Rest easy together, ladies.
Starrily,
Steph
My artist friend, Judith's, words to Don T. on a clay tablet:
