Question

You are vacationing in San Diego. One morning while walking near the shore you hear a group of fisherman complaining that there are too many starfish in the ocean. They plan to solve this problem by netting the starfish, cutting them in half to kill them, and throwing them back into the ocean. Is their plan likely to be effective?

Answer 1

Answer:

No, the plan is not likely to be effective.

Explanation:

starfishes, also known as sea stars, are marine invertebrates, belonging to the class Asteroidea. Morphologically, starfishes have usually have a central body and five arms, although some species have more than five arms, and there are over 500 speices of starfish.

Most starfish species have the ability to regenerate, which means that they have the ability to regrow a new disc from a single arm, while others require some part of their central disc to be attached to the detached part in order to regrow. This regeneration ability is a form of asexual reproduction, which is brought about by the intermediate growth ability of starfishes, which means that the cells of the starfish has the ability to continue growing, unlike cells of most animals, which grow to a certain stage and stops growing.

If the fishermen cut the starfishes in half and throw them back into the ocean, they will be creating an extra starfish for every starfish cut because each of the starfish will regenerate, especially as the starfish still contains part of its central disc.