I did not know that! So does a starfish have stem cells that reproduce like the ones in our nasal passages in order for it to regrow its missing limb? WAIT WAIT WAIT you mean will a whole new starfish grow from that missing joint or arm?
Wow, that is cool. So, if we figure out how the stem cells work in the starfish, we may just be able to do the same with humans, as we have been trying to do for the last 10 years maybe?
One question that does arise from regrowth of simple animals from their parts is whether the regrown animal is of the same age as the original (the current problems we have with cloning regarding our inability to reset the the cellular biological clock, so the clone is born with the cellular age of its parent)?
Starfish Reproduction
Starfish commonly reproduce by free-spawning: releasing their gametes into the water where they hopefully are fertilized by gametes from the opposite sex. To increase their chances of fertilization, starfish probably gather in groups when they are ready to spawn, use environmental signals to coordinate timing (day length to indicate the correct time of the year, dawn or dusk to indicate the correct time of day), and may use chemical signals to indicate their readiness to each other.
Fertilized eggs grow into bipinnaria and later into brachiolaria larvae, which either grow using a yolk or by catching and eating other plankton. In either case, they live as plankton, suspended in the water and swimming by using beating cilia. The larvae are bilaterally symmetric — unlike adults, they have a distinct left and right side. Eventually, they undergo a complete metamorphosis, settle to the bottom, and grow into adults.Some species of starfish brood their young: the males spawn gametes which fertilize eggs held by the females. The females may hold the eggs on their surface, in the pyloric stomach (as in Leptasterias tenera), or even attach them to the ground (as in Asterina gibbosa). Brooding is especially common in polar and deep-sea species, environments less favorable for larvae.
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Bipinnaria larvae of a starfish.[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Brachiolaria larvae of a starfish.
Male and female starfish are not distinguishable from the outside; you need to see the gonads or be lucky enough to catch them spawning. The gonads are located in each arm, and release gametes through gonoducts located on the central body between the arms.
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Starfish are capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction. Individual starfish are male or female. Fertilization takes place externally, both male and female releasing their gametes into the environment. Resulting fertilised embryos form part of the zooplankton.
Starfish are developmentally (embryologically) known as deuterostomes. Their embryo initially develops bilateral symmetry, indicating that starfish probably share a common ancestor with the chordates, which includes the fish. Later development takes a very different path however as the developing starfish settles out of the zooplankton and develops the characteristic radial symmetry. Some species reproduce cooperatively, using environmental signals to coordinate the timing of gamete release; in other species, one to one pairing is the norm.
Some species of starfish also reproduce asexually by fragmentation, often with part of an arm becoming detached and eventually developing into an independent individual starfish. This has led to some notoriety. Starfish can be pests to fishermen who make their living on the capture of clams and other mollusks at sea as starfish prey on these. The fishermen would presumably kill the starfish by chopping them up and disposing of them at sea, ultimately leading to their increased numbers until the issue was better understood. A starfish arm can only regenerate into a whole new organism if some of the central ring of the starfish is part of the chopped off arm.