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Study how sieve plates and suction-cupped tube feet enable sea stars to catch prey and move through water

Study how sieve plates and suction-cupped tube feet enable sea stars to catch prey and move through water

Anatomy and physiology of starfish tube feet.
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Transcript

NARRATOR: A starfish can move in any direction, with any one of its arms in the lead. On the underside of the starfish are rows of movable projections called tube feet. The tube feet are slender tubes that extend as water is pumped into them.

Water enters through a sieve plate in the starfish's skin and is forced by muscles into each tube foot.

The water extends the length of the cavity of the tube foot.

At the tip of each tube foot is a small suction cup, which can be attached to objects.

Tube feet enable the starfish to grasp and manipulate prey, to move, and to cling to rocks and other hard surfaces as it creeps along.
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