In the spotlight

‘We put some stranded starfish carefully back into the water-I hardly know enough of the race at this decorating the strand line. At such times, they're easy pickings for herring gulls, which swallow them whole-although not without difficulty, owing to their pentagrammatic form. Common starfish are themselves able predators, their prey of choice being mussels (), which have everything to fear from ardent embrace. Its method is not for the squeamish: using suction feet to prise open the mussel, the starfish pours its stomach down the ingest . Withdrawing the stomach through its central mouth, further digestion follows. Starfish grow rapidly and can live for seven or eight years. If misadventure results in a lost ‘arm', another will grow in its place.