brief introduction
Starfish, sea cucumbers and sea urchins belong to echinoderms. They usually have five wrists, but there are also four or six, and some have as many as 40 wrists. There are four rows of pins under these wrists. Using pins can not only catch prey, but also let yourself climb on rocks. Sea star has thousands of tube feet. Starfish's mouth is in the middle of its lower body, which can directly contact the surface of the object that starfish has climbed. Starfish vary in size, ranging from 2.5 cm to 90 cm, and their body colors are different. Almost every one is different, and the most common colors are orange, red, purple, yellow and cyan.
Starfish are mainly distributed in shallow seabed sand or rocks all over the world, and we are no strangers to it. However, we know little about its ecology. Starfish doesn't look like an animal, and from its appearance and slow movement, it is hard to imagine that starfish is a greedy carnivore, which plays an unusually important role in marine ecosystem and biological evolution. This is why it is widely distributed in the world.
Looking for food
It is generally believed that sharks are fierce carnivores in the ocean. Who would have thought that the starfish, which lives on the sand or rocks at the bottom of the sea, is also a carnivore! But that's the truth. Because starfish can't move as flexibly and quickly as sharks, its main prey are some slow-moving marine animals, such as shellfish, sea urchins, crabs and anemones. It often adopts a slow and tortuous strategy, slowly approaching the prey, grasping the prey with the tube foot on the wrist and wrapping it all over, spitting out the stomach bag from the mouth, dissolving the prey in vitro with digestive enzymes and being absorbed by it.
We know that starfish is an indispensable link in the marine food chain. Its predation plays an important role in maintaining the balance of biota. For example, on the west coast of the United States, there is a spiny starfish that often preys on sea rainbow (vegetables) attached to rocks. This can prevent the sea rainbow from over-breeding, prevent the sea rainbow from invading the territory of other creatures, and thus maintain the balance of biota. There are about 2000 species of starfish in the world, which are distributed in a wide area from the ocean to the seabed. Among them, the northeast Pacific Ocean from Alaska to California has the most species.
In the natural food chain, the contest between predator and prey is often life and death. In order to escape from starfish, almost all prey animals will make an escape response. There is a big sea cucumber. Whenever the starfish touches it, it will roll violently in the water and run away before it is firmly caught by the starfish. Scallops also have unique skills in avoiding starfish. When the starfish approaches it, scallops will swim quickly one after another. There is a little anemone. Whenever the starfish approaches it, it will break away from the climbing rock and drift to a safe place. The ability of these animals to escape comes from long-term evolution. Avoid the fate of being eliminated by nature.
Starfish feed on shellfish. When starfish want to eat mussels, they will first open their shells with powerful suction cups, and then stick out their stomachs to eat mussels. Therefore, the economic value of starfish is not great, and it can only be dried and ground into powder for agricultural fertilizer. Because it preys on shellfish, it is very harmful to shellfish culture.
type
Starfish are echinoderms that live in the sea. They have strong reproductive ability. There are about 1500 species of starfish in the world, most of which are propagated by in vitro fertilization without mating. The male starfish has a pair of testicles on each wrist. They excrete a lot of sperm into the water, and females also excrete thousands of eggs through the ovaries on both sides of their wrists. Sperm and egg meet in water, complete fertilization and form new life. From fertilized eggs, larvae, that is, small starfish, are born.
Some researchers have found that some starfish have the habit of seasonal pairing, that is, the male starfish lies on top of the female starfish, with five wrists staggered. This behavior is considered to be related to reproduction, but its true function has not been confirmed.
In addition, starfish has a special ability-regeneration. Starfish can regenerate naturally after their wrists and body plates are damaged or cut by themselves. Any part of a starfish can be regenerated into a new starfish. Therefore, some species of starfish have evolved the ability of asexual reproduction through this super-regeneration method, without mating. But most starfish usually don't reproduce asexually.
officinal
[Drug Name] Starfish
"alias" starship and pentagram
[Latin Name] Northeast Starfish
The "source" is the dried whole grass of Polygonum hydropiper, a Polygonaceae animal.
"ingredients" contain starfish saponins a and B.
"Efficacy" calms the nerves, flattens the stomach and relieves pain, and thickens the intestines to stop diarrhea.
Indications: acute and chronic convulsion, tetanus, epilepsy, epigastric pain, acid regurgitation, diarrhea and gastric ulcer.
"Sexual taste returning to the meridian" is bitter, salty and flat. Heart, stomach and large intestine.
[Usage and dosage] Take it by decocting, 5- 10g.
Animal and plant resources are distributed in coastal areas of Liaoning, Hebei and Shandong.
"Collection and storage of medicinal materials" was captured in summer and autumn. It can be salvaged, washed and dried at the bottom of sand, mud, rocks or broken shells in intertidal zone.
Textual research was first published in China Journal of Medicinal Animals.
essay
Starfish is the first work of prose writer Lu Li, and it is a love ode written by the writer with sincere feelings. Starfish is small and exquisite, and the full text is as follows:
With a shell in his hand, the child wanted to pick up the stars full of shells, half for his dear brother and half for his loving mother. He saw the stars on the opposite mountain and ran to the top of the mountain happily.
It turns out that the stars are not here, so we have to run away.
So the child ran to the top of another mountain, and the stars seemed to be by the sea.
The child loves his brother and his mother, and he is bent on picking a shell full of stars and giving them to his brother and mother.
The wind by the sea is a little cold. Beyond the sea, there is no way to chase. The child held an empty shell and shed tears in the sea.
The next day, people found the cold body of the child with a shell in his hand.
The next night, people saw countless stars in the sea.
Make an appreciative comment
There is no doubt that starfish has a poetic charm. The language of the article is simple, fresh and pure, full of innocence and simplicity. It is like a string of delicate pearls, like a beautiful and slightly sad poem, which is the embodiment of the author's pursuit of poetic prose creation style.
As the Soviet writer Ba Pustov said, "True prose is full of poetry, just like apples contain juice." Lu Li created a profound and charming artistic conception through poetic association and poetic infiltration. Children in starfish fantasize about picking stars with shells, which is so infatuated and persistent. It seems to be whimsical, but it is out of a tender heart, so you can't help but believe it and feel emotional about it. Here, people are poetic, scenery is poetic and things are poetic. Starfish shines with deep feelings and beautiful artistic conception.
In this beautiful artistic conception, we can taste deep and sincere love. A child who is bent on picking the stars full of shells, half for his dear brother and half for his loving mother, happily ran from mountain to mountain until he caught up with the sea. How innocent and touching his love is!
But this kind of "love" is dreamy, so there is a faint sadness of youth in the works.
The sea is gorgeous, beautiful and fresh, which is a symbol of love. However, this kind of love cannot be found in reality. "The wind at the seaside is a bit chilly, and there is no way to chase it out of the sea." Bright starfish reflects children's tears, persistence in pursuit, infatuation and coldness in reality, which makes the meaning attached to children more realistic situations that people can understand. Just because the dream can't be realized in reality, it has a sad ending. The next day, people found the cold body of a child with a shell in his hand. However, the author still has hope for life. The next night, people saw countless stars in the sea. The author eulogized the innocence and beauty of childlike innocence. Flower of life died young, but the star of love always shines.
This is a life experience with a touch of youth and sadness, a fantasy and feeling of life, a romantic and wonderful imagination of the author, and his yearning for the world of love. And this kind of love is sincere, undisguised, and it is the natural expression of a pure heart.
Starfish, ode to love!