how do starfish have baby's?

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"Starfish commonly reproduce via a method called "free-spawning". This means that they release their gametes (A reproductive cell that has a haploid number of chromosomes, normally a mature sperm or egg that is capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to create a fertilized egg) into the water, where they will hopefully be fertilized by the gamete from the opposite sex. It is thought that to increase the chances of fertilization, starfish will gather in groups when they are ready to spawn, using environmental signals to coordinate their timing, and chemical signals to indicate their readiness to each sperm."

From.. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_starfish_reproduce
 
saw a thing on the discovery channel about this.... yea when they gather they release clouds of what you could call sperm and eggs into the water which then become fertilized. looks like clouds of pink bees flying around in the water.
 
One way to breed starfish is not breeding at all, by cutting off one of their limbs they will regrow it and from that cut off limb will grow another starfish.
 
redtailshark1;3620888; said:
One way to breed starfish is not breeding at all, by cutting off one of their limbs they will regrow it and from that cut off limb will grow another starfish.


There are many flaws in that statement. The "new piece" must have enough of a buccal cavity to allow it to eat. And the rate of bacterial infection when torn up like that is really high, so its more typical that both parts die. Its been done successfully in sterile laboratory settings, but success in other environments remains quite low.
 
redtailshark1;3620888; said:
One way to breed starfish is not breeding at all, by cutting off one of their limbs they will regrow it and from that cut off limb will grow another starfish.

This is true? I thought it to be a falsehood?
 
kdrun76;3620901; said:
There are many flaws in that statement. The "new piece" must have enough of a buccal cavity to allow it to eat. And the rate of bacterial infection when torn up like that is really high, so its more typical that both parts die. Its been done successfully in sterile laboratory settings, but success in other environments remains quite low.

...and so there we have it. Very interesting!
 
I typed "how do star fish breed" into google and in 4 minutes I feel rather educated on the topic...

Give it a shot!
 
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