How can starfish breathe

Some sea creatures might even just die instantly after getting touched by human, let alone being lifted out of water. There are so many explanations about it, and we will do it step by step.

The first reason is simply because most sea creatures, including starfish, need to breathe to live, and they can only breathe underwater. Starfish breathe through their tube feet and papulae the tiny pimples you can find all over its body which are equipped with very thin tissue.

The thin tissue allows gasses to move through it easily, whether it would be oxygen in or carbon dioxide out, in a process called diffusion. Different from fish, which only has two gills, the whole body of starfish is covered by papulae. In short, their noses or gills are located all over their body. This is what happens when we lift starfish out of water, since fresh air is toxic for their respiratory system.

Indeed, some species of starfish we cannot assume what species of starfish actually Patrick Star is will survive being lifted to the air for a moment.

This is because those species of starfish can hold their breath longer than others. Not only being able to absorb the oxygen needed, but such condition will also prevent the starfishes to emit carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide from their body.

It will lead to carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide poisoning, which then will lead them to death. Most starfish species can only hold their breath for less than 30 seconds. Okay, so some species of starfish might survive a little longer than others up in the air. But suffocating a little longer is not their only problem here. The stress of being forced to get out of water is another concern.

The mental impact of experiencing a strange condition, let alone the experience is life threatening, may cause death to any animal including starfish.

Animals are prone to mental stress that, even slightest changes in their environment would lead to heavy stress. Unlike human, some animal are not good handler of mental stress. It will then affect their lifestyle and further their physical health. They also lack central brains. World View. How Do Starfish Breathe? More From Reference. What Is the Use of a Watch Glass? Who Is the Real John Q. Starfish are carnivores. They eat animals such as barnacles, sea anemones, gastropods, sea urchins, sea snails and shellfish.

Crabs, dead fish and even other starfish supplement the starfish's diet. Starfish grasp prey using the suction cups at the end of the tube feet on the underside of their arms and use the suction to pull apart the shell to get to the meat inside. The starfish does not consume prey. Rather, it brings the prey to the mouth located near the center of its body. The starfish then pushes its cardiac stomach out of its mouth into the food.

Digestive enzymes are released, liquifying the food so the starfish can sip the liquid into its stomach. Once the prey is ingested, the starfish retracts its stomach back into its body. Once the prey is sipped in through the cardiac stomach, it passes into the pyloric stomach.