A few Starfish

[Chris J]

Went for a stroll under Mumbles Pier in Swansea Bay at low tide on the day of the lowest tides of the last spring tide cycle. Went to investigate a group of guys fishing in the very low water with long hooks and nets. Seems they were fishing - unsuccessfully - for oysters.
One reason for their lack of success became clear - the exposed sea bottom was covered in a carpet of starfish -



This is the Common Starfish, Asterias rubens. (Aster = star, rubens = red). They prey on bivalves such as oysters and mussels (seen under them here), gripping the shells with many "tube feet" and levering them apart to get at the flesh inside.

50D + EF100mm Macro (although not a macro shot).

Cheers, Chris.

[Hereford_EOS2]

Re: A few Starfish

I've not seen so many starfish in one place.

well done on capturing the moment.

[Stan]

Re: A few Starfish

Cant say I've seen many before
The colours work well against the shells

Stan

[Muscat]

Re: A few Starfish

I like the contrast of colours which I think works well. The only time in my life I have seen this density of jelly fish was many years ago when working in the middle east and we had an infestation of the Crown of Thorns jelly fish

[DeeGee]

Re: A few Starfish

WOW. Wonderful colour, Nicely spotted. Didn't know they fed on mussells, for some reason didn't think about what they ate really... Again I learn

[Chris J]

Re: A few Starfish

Thanks for the comments.
For DeeGee, yes, they live in mussel and oyster beds. One of my favourite areas in Normandy is Cancale on the west of the Mont St Michel Bay where they is a huge mussel and oyster farm complex. There they grow the oysters in mesh bags on racks about a metre above the sea floor and the mussels on ropes suspended above the sea floor. This ploy stops the starfish getting to them, as they are not very good at leaping up.....

They feed on such shellfish by gripping the shells with many of what are called tube feet (that they also use for moving). When they have a good grip they can then lever the shells apart. Here are some tube feet from the same photo session - not very good because I didn't want to disturb any of the starfish so just tried to get a picture of the end of an arm on a mussel shell -



If you ever find a starfish on the beach turn it over and if you can see the tube feet waving about then it is still alive.
Cheers, Chris.