sea stars

Stars of the Sea

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Stars of the Sea

We have met sea stars before, but we wanted to learn more about these amazing echinoderms at camp today!

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SEA STAR FUN FACTS: 

  • There are around 2,000 species of sea stars.
  • Some species live up to 35 years.
  • They have no brains or blood. They use water throughout their vascular system. The water also helps them move their tube feet.
  • Sea stars do have simple eyes that see light and dark.
  • Sea stars have little plates of calcium carbonate to help protect them
  • These carnivores push their stomachs outside their mouths and digest their food before pulling the stomach back in the body.
  • Each arm of the sea star has around 15,000 tube feet. These feet secret a glue like substance to help them attach to rocks.
  • Some sea stars- like the sun star, can have up to 50 arms and weigh 11 lbs.
  • Like their relatives the brittle stars, they can regenerate arms.

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We love sea stars! They come in all sizes and colors- like pink, purple and blue! Do you have a favorite color sea star?

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, endangered species, Environment, nature, oceans, science, sea stars, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Know Your Echinoderms

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Ellie and Edmond ©

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Echinoderm Fun Facts: 

  • Echinoderms include sea stars, brittle and basket stars, sea urchins and sand dollars and sea cucumbers. 
  • They have been around for around 500 million years.
  • Their name comes from Greek and means urchin and skin. They all have spines- some larger and sharper than others.
  • Most Echinoderms have radial symmetry- body parts are arranged around a central point. 
  • Echinoderms do not have blood- they use water to circulate throughout their body. Water also helps them move their tube feet which they use for locomotion. 
  • Some Echinoderms can regenerate their body parts. Sea stars are known for regrowing arms. 

We’ll meet some neat Echinoderms this summer at camp? Do you have a favorite? We love sea stars and sand dollars in particular. 

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, sea stars, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thorny Sea Star

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Thorny Sea Star

We are meeting our last sea star of the week!  This one is best to be observed but not to touch! Ouch- watch out for the crown-of-thorns sea star.

Crown of Thorns

Crown-of-thorn sea star fun facts: 

  • The thorns on this sea star are venomous.
  • These indimidating looking sea stars predate on coral!
  • They have only one predator- giant triton sea snail.
  • As you can see they have more than five arms.
  • They do have tube feet to move them along the reefs.
  • Unfortunately these predators have grown in numbers. Too many of them and that can mean trouble for a reef. They can destroy large areas.
  • Scientists and conservationists now will actively remove them when there is population boom.

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We love sea stars of all kinds, but this one might have gone to the dark side. Keeping a balance in habitats is crucial for all the animals that live there.

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, sea stars, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Here Comes the Sun!

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

To Here Comes the Sun!

We are meeting another sea star family member here at camp! We are meeting the sunflowers sea star today! They may not have the crazy arms like a basket star, but they do have more than five!

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Sunflower sea star Fun Facts:

  • They have a large central disc.
  • Sunflowers sea stars have can numerous arms. One species has 24 arms.
  • They can reach 3 feet across.
  • They have up to 15,000 tube feet on the bottom of their bodies.
  • Sunflower sea stars can move over 40 inches per minute- a record speed for sea stars.
  • They are voracious predators! They eat snails, clams and sea cucumbers.
  • Sunflower sea stars star out with 5 arms and quickly grow the others.
  • They can shed their arms and grow them back.

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Who doesn’t love a sea star? And now there is more to love with the sunflower sea star and all those arms!

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, sea stars, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bring Your Basket- Star!

Posted on July 10, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Bring Your Basket – Star!

We are so excited to see everyone here! It’s Sea Star week here at camp! You may know these amazing echinoderms as starfish, but scientists are now using sea star as these animals are not fish! We bet you’d like to know what an echinoderm is though– it’s an animal that has radial symmetry (arms radiating from a central body) and a hard covering. Other echinoderms include sea urchins, sea cucumbers and sand dollars.

Today, we are meeting one of the craziest enchinoderms around the basket star. Woohoo!

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Basket Star Fun Facts: 

  • Basket stars belong to the brittle star family.
  • Most Basket stars are found in deep waters.
  • They can reach up to 28 inches across. The central disk is around 5 1/2 inches across.
  • They have 5 arms. Those 5 arms then have many many branches.
  • They have calcium carbonate structures called ossicles. These give all those arms flexibility and stability.
  • Some basket stars feed on plankton or small crustaceans.
  • They use spines and hooks to move food up their mouths on the central disk.
  • Basket stars also have tube feet to move them around.

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These amazing creatures have no brain, but they do have a complex nervous system. The oceans house the craziest critters on the planet!

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, sea stars, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Camp E&E by the Sea

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Camp E&E by the Sea

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Welcome back to camp everyone! We trust that you had a lovely holiday! We know we did! We have set up Camp E&E by the sea for the month of July and in to August! The cabins are ready and this year they are spiffy! We will also have some great tents for those that want to sleep by the ocean and hear the waves at night.

We will be meeting the animals that call the shore and ocean home! We have set up the craft cabin and here at the shore it’s run by Carl the Crafty Crab! We’ll also be enjoy a whole we dedicated to our cartilaginous friends- sharks and rays!

So back up your trunks (the box not the elephant nose) and get your cabin assisngment and let’s get ready to enjoy all the Camp E&E by the Sea brings us!

Dont’ forget your water shoes, surfboards, stand up boards, extra sunsuncreen, bug repellant (the gnats can be terrible), a flashlight with a red lens (must not disturb sea turtles) and your beach towels!

 

We will see you on Monday for Sea Star Week!

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Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, sea stars, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

SEA STAR BEAN BAG

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

SEA STAR BEAN BAG

We’re making stuffed sea star bean bags for World’s Oceans Day! We hope you like them! Share your photos of your sea stars too!

MATERIALS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Sea Star Pattern
  • Scissors
  • Felt (any color)
  • Hot glue gun (used by an adult)
  • Flax seed or stuffing
  • Funnel
  • Sharpie
  • Pom poms or googly eyes

Directions:

1)   Cut out pattern.

2)   Cut out two sea stars on felt.

3)   Hot glue the two pieces together, leaving a small opening.

4)   Put the flax seed in the sea star. If you don’t have a funnel, you can easily make one with paper, by rolling it in a cone shape. If you don’t have flax seed, stuffing or small dry beans will work too.

5)   Make sure you don’t overstuff it. Then glue the opening shut.

6)   Glue on the eyes and draw on the mouth.

You’re done! Toss your sea star, use him as a paper weight, or just give him a hug!

Categories: Animals, Children, crafts, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, sea stars, wildlife, Worlds Oceans Day | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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