Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-09-24
A Story of Star6sh.


see all he interesting THINGS they can
while they are there, and If tbry have
never looked Tor them. they viii De sur
prlScd to find how many treasures there
are la the sea. There is the Slarij>h, or
sta-Star, for instance Al the ljitlr folks
who know anything about the scashosv
have seen thcm on at least hi> empty
coat. hut not many, probably, have taken
Tue trouble To sJt acquainted with hun
\ et h" Is very interesting little fellow,
and worth knowing His morals are nor
very good il is true in spite of his pretty
name and pretty clothes, but il is net
necessary 10 initiate him.
Ihr worst fault Of The >tart>h is that
he Is terrible %tutton. and viii do any
thing for the sake Of a good meal He
Is IN fact, simply a walking stomach ar
rather collection OF Stumach>. for lac
has several of these organs. one in the
middle of his body aud others in his arms
lie II always hungry and no wonder,
and sometimes he is in such a hurry for
has dinner that he can't take time to eat
1t properly. but Just Shovcs his main
stomach out of his mouth and wraps it
around the food.
The startish will eat anything that
comes IN his way, and for that reason
has been called the ScnvCnger of the sea.
anything else and he makes Il great deal
of trouble for the oystermeu
How he gets at the oyster has long
been Il puzzle to naturalStS. for an oys-
ter shell is not easy to open. and il isn't
likely that the oyster would unlock his
front door and ask Mr. Starlish tu walk
in. However the thing turns ont 10 be
quito simple and any little man or wom-
an who wants Ia visit the Chilrvn's mu-
scum IN brooklyn can see just how it is
done. Tie Starhsh places his body di-
rectly over the oysters front door and
spreads his arms down over the two
halves of the shell. Then he Clues his
feet firmly to the shell and tries to
straightcn out his arms. Then comes a
( tng-of-War between the oyster and the
stariish the StariSh trying to pull the
shell opcn aud the oyster trying 10 keep
/ shut. The oyster gels tired first. and
then the game is up. The StaTiish opens
the Shelf far enough to get his stomach
inside aud proceeds to digest the unhappy
I oyster
! Stariish SO into the oyster business in
Il thoroughly systematic way They
travel in shoals from one oyster bed ia
another. and often destroy n farm ia a
short time. To Yat rid Of them the
oyster men drag The water above the
beds with bars Of iron to which lunches
of raVcled rope are fastened. The spineS
of the starilsh catch in the rope and they
/ are brought up by the hundreds. They
are then killed by Ntcamiug. or are
thrown on the beach above tho high
water mark, Formerly the oyster mon
used to break them ia pieces and throw
them back into the sea, hut thry know
better now for each one OF ihpsc pieces
probably grew into new startsh \
>tartsh doosn mind having its nrus
pulled oil Il Bit 1t can easily grow new
ones. and the arms can grow INTO COM
pletc animals. Sometimes the starG-h
throws it, arms OF OF it, own accord.
and there is one variety known ~ the
| brittle star, which drops aii 90 pieces
when it il frightened or put ont about
anything. There is 40 use trying 10
catch 81, for whenever il scents daugcr
the arms Just swim of in diiforca. d..
rcrtiou~.
But it is not fair To HE ~tarG~h to talk
only of their vices. They have virtues.
too. and one of these is u very uncum-
mon one among the inhabitants of the
water Fish and other animals at the
sea care very litllc about their l0uu-.
7 They just drop hrir eggs into thc WATER
and LET them shift for themselves: bur
the -talhsh are most careful and tender
parents They hatch the eggs In littc
! basket which they make with their oNH
bodies. by turning over on their backs
and stretching their arms upward. Ia
this position they can neither walk nor
eat, terrible deprivation 10 such hungry
creatures. vet they remain 80 for ten
days. until the baby starhsh are Matched.
OF course the little folks know chat
the startish is not really - fish. fish
has a backbone and the ~taril,h has
none. il belongs % thy fauiiy of rae
dates; that IN. It's body ~ arranged iu
rays The common ~taili>h, which the
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