I spent part of the day finding and filming an Eleven-Armed Sea Star, which pretty much blew my mind because I absolutely love them and all their weirdness and the other part freaking out because I was getting interviewed LIVE on the radio about some of my recent sightings. Last time I was interviewed was on the telly and even after setting very strict ground rules for the cameraman about which angles he could shoot (from the waist up and no gratuitous neck shots) the resulting footage consisted of me bending over frequently and chins for days 😂 Now, add in my potty mouth and regular use of non radio friendly language and I was having a mild conniption but happy to say all went (fairly) well. And I was in my pyjamas so I feel like I've just achieved a life goal.
Now the Eleven-Armed Sea Star was an absolute treat! These animals don't seem to mind the really shallow water of low tide because I always seem to find them in mere centimetres of water. This one was not only in super shallow water but also in the dark so yay for that. But I was not going to miss out on it and ended up on my hands and knees giving the group of young guys sitting on the hill watching the surfers a birds eye view of my least favourite "as seen on TV positions" - yes, bent over, butt up. Lucky no cameramen around today. Still. Content.
It was amazing watching this funnily enough nine armed Eleven-Armed Sea Star reaching out, moving slowly across the rock pool floor, its hundreds of tube feet feeling its way, until it finally settles on something, likely its dinner. These guys reproduce by fission, so can split themselves in half to make more stars! And I've seen a few with several fully grown limbs and then the other half of the animal has these little, still regenerating arms. It's a crazy sight to see. They also don't have eyes as such but eye spots on the end of their arms which can sense light and dark and apparently even make out some general shapes. At one point, you can see the Sea Star lifting one of its arms up and reaching out towards the camera, trying to figure out what was sitting in front of it. Amazing!
Eleven-Armed Sea Star
Sandon Point