It is very interesting to watch them care for their eggs. These are kept in pouches at the base of the rays, and when emitted through an opening there provided, are actually brooded as a hen her chicks, by arching the central part of the body and bending the rays down, and if the eggs are scattered they take great pains to collect them again, often traveling long distances for them.
The star fish consumes a large amount of food; you would hardly think one stomach could care for so much, but each ray has an additional stomach, and all need food. Their favorite food is the whelk, a small black-shelled, snail-like mollusk. Indeed, they eat many varieties of the mollusk.
They are also very fond of oysters. You would be interested to watch the star fish as he slowly works his way along until directly over the oyster, then folds his five arms around it, holding it firmly in place, then pushing out his stomach, through his mouth, he wraps it around the unfortunate oyster, and by the power of suction the oyster is drawn from the shell and digested and the shell cast away. You can easily see what a nuisance they must be in an oyster bed.
They are known as the opossum of the sea, as they often appear to be quite dead when they are very much alive. If you wish to be sure, put him on his back, and if alive you will soon see a number of semitransparent globular objects beginning to move, reaching this way and that. These are the ambulacra seeking to regain their normal position. If you see no motion, you may safely conclude that he is an extinguished star.
A butterfly with spangles gay, Met a bumble bee, one day, Where the sunshine warmly lay Turning clover into hay.
“Hark!” said lovely Shining Wings, “Hear how loud that blackbird sings! Don’t you think the summer brings Just the brightest, sweetest things?
“See the color of the sky; See the clouds that sail so high; See the milkweed floating by”— Said the dainty butterfly.
“Smell the clover blossoms there, Scenting all the summer air; Nothing half so sweet or fair, As this meadow, anywhere!”
Bumble jerked his little head, Then he rather crossly said: “Well, I like the clover red, Not for perfume, but for bread!
“All the world knows that a bee Much too busy is to see Beauty merely. All that he Cares for is utility.”