Seeing stars...

Yesterday morning, Bronwyn and I headed out on our bikes to pick up a few groceries in order to make brunch. We were in the alley behind the house, getting ready to set off, when I noticed a small starfish (or "sea star") lying on the ground, just ahead of my front wheel. It was perfectly intact and coloured the reddish-purple hue of sea stars that we often see around here - only not on our streets or alleyways. It's arms were slightly curled and there were bits of leaf and debris attached to it here and there. Otherwise it looked perfect. Bronwyn and I couldn't work out how it got there behind our house. Did a child bring it from the beach and then drop it? Unlikely.

Bronwyn considered the theory that the sea star could have "walked" from the beach. But considering its obvious lack of a means to "walk", was forced to scrap that theory. In the end, Sherlock Holmes style, we deduced that a bird must have dropped it; a greedy gull making off with a feast too heavy for it to carry. Or perhaps it was dropped in an aerial skirmish between equally greedy gulls or crows. Hard to figure out. I don't think a bird would even be a likely predator for a starfish. I imagine they'd be difficult to swallow, being echinoderms and all... perhaps that was why it was spat out. Then again, the gulls around here will try to eat anything, anything at all. They are tough. About the size of Scottish terriers and they hang out in gangs and go around threatening other birds and spreading garbage everywhere.

Anyway, we weren't quite sure what to do with it. I picked it up and noticed it was quite soft. It also left behind a small wet imprint of itself on the cement ground when I lifted it. Was it alive? How do you know if a starfish is dead? (aside from it when it is a dried-out beach memento). How long can it stay out of water before it suffocates (what IS the opposite of drowning?) Should we put it in water to keep it moist? I googled all these questions but got no answers...except that we should keep tap water away from it. If it was alive, then clearly it was not going to do too well lying on the road. So, just in case, we decided to take it back to the ocean. There is a rocky beach just a couple of minutes from our house. We placed the starfish in a plastic container and Mark took Bronwyn, who carefully carried the sea star, down to the beach.

Happily reunited with its salt water habitat, Mark told me that he thought he saw it move very slightly...which I think is the only way that starfish move.

Ahhh...a job well done. What sea star heroes! And hopefully, it won't be food for another hungry bird. Although, unfortunately, there are probably a few more anxious clams, mussels and, snails out there.