http://www.ck12.org Chapter 14. Understanding Biodiversity: Animals: Invertebrates
digest the prey. Many starfish swallow their prey whole and start to digest it in their stomachs before passing it into
the pyloric caeca. Because of the Bat star’s ability to digest food throughout their body, they are able to eat larger
prey.
TheP. miniata’snervous system is rather complicated. Their brain is distributed throughout their whole body. Their
nerves form an interlacing network that creates a brain all over the body. The feet of a Bat star starfish has skin that
contains papullae. Papullae are thin, walled projections of the body cavity. They also absorb oxygen directly from
water and distribute the oxygen throughout the Bat star body.
Behavior
TheP. miniataare aggressive - if one meets another, they will fight. They fight by pushing one another and putting
an arm over the other.
References
- Bat Starat http://eol.org/pages/598519/overview.
- Invertebrate Evolutionat http://www.ck12.org/biology/Invertebrate-Evolution/.
- Echinodermsat http://www.ck12.org/biology/Echinoderms/lesson/Echinoderms/.
- http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Patiria_miniata/
- Khan Academy, http://www.khanacademy.org
- Nature Bytes Video, http://naturebytesvideo.com/
- http://www.sanctuarysimon.org/species/species_info.php?speciesID=52&photoID=562
Attribution
Authors
- Isabelle Udasco
- Gabby Vargas
Supervising Faculty
- Amy Huff Shah
Affiliation
- Museum School, San Diego, California
Status
- Published prior to review.