* , * V * | - m I 24 Herald & Lantern 6 |une '84 -V

Flora and Fauna Stars of Sea Beach Trove

By DIXIE I.. ANDERSON Stars can be just about everywhere Look for he stars in the eyes, and the stars in the skies, and then, when you are sick of look ing for the shiny things, turn your gaze to the beach How about the stars at the shore'' Let's talk abou,! them The starfish wo find on our beaches hold special allure for us beachcombers They are pretty, come in various sizes, and while some are shaped differently from others, they present a mystery many of us would like to solve Starfish are not actually fish. but rather. Echinoderms That is. spiny small sea animals with hard shells and radial bodies They are referred *to as "Sea Stars" by the most proper scientists, but you and I will just call them starfish

IN EARLY DAYS legend has it that they fell from Vhe skies to live in the sea and multiply Boy. can they multiply: There will be more about that later Other societies deferred to starfish as "Devil's Fingers' jand they were considered poisonous or dangerous to touch. That, of course, is not factual, and the starfish are harmless Another myth surcounding our pretty star-shaped seashore decoration was connected with fairies The good fairies ( stars i were blink ing in the sky while the bad fairies were the stars thrown by an angry God to the sea Good things were associated with starfish, too Many fishermen used them as good luck charms The fishermen assured themselves that the presence of a star from the sea on their boat would br ing huge catches If the

I catch of the day was large, i they would toss their i mascot starfish back to the i sea. but if luck was bad. the * starfish was thrown to the beach to dry and die I STARFISH WER E > ground, boiled, incanted t and used in ancient medicine. Today, with much knowledge being dredged from the sea and : its creatures, science may i very well find healing ' medication from our : starfish. I There are lots of special I things about starfish you might like to know I The starfish is related to five easily identified * animals, and while we won't go into all of them, you can count the sea urchin and the sand dollar as ! cousins to our five-armed friends There are over 2.000 kinds of starfish and they range back in age to over five hundred million years Starfish can be found in

all the oceans of the world, so w^ don't have priority on them, but picking one from your own piece of beach makes it pretty special, doesn't it' WHILE WE FIND star fish generally colored in the red to brown spectrum, they can be brilliant in bright colors of blue or pur pie and green Some are* even many colored with different shades Beautiful to look at. delightful to see. here on the beach for you and for me! The starfish isn't much of a traveler. While in the larvae. or beginning state, they swim around a bit. but as they grow and mature, they move around on feet which hold a series of tubes for suction which also pull water through their system for life - sustaining purposes These same feet harbor an eye-spot at the tip of each 3rm. This allows the starfish to see both light

A Star Performer

and dark The footed arms when exercised < by nerves alone, the starfish has no brain ' can turn the whole body over from back to front They can Hve only in salt water, and whilst they take exposure to air rather well, the starfish must remain moist, and so it dies when allowed to dry in the sun. THE STARFISH we deal with usually has only five arms However, generally in series of five, you can find starfish with up to 50 arms, and there are of course, variations on the' multiple of five rule Our pretty spiny friend is a menace to oyster and clam beds. They are despised as an enemy to all oystermen because of their ability to eat shellfish. Have you ever attempted to open a clam or an oyster shell 0 Not easy, is it? Well, our pretty starfish opens a clam or an oystersheil with ease Working for a long time, the starfish, with its tubed,, suctioned feet, begirfer to work its valves with a long steady pull, exerting many pounds of pressure, alternating foot for foot until the tiniest opening is gained to the shell of the oyster or clam it wants to eat Now here comes the fascinating part A SMALL PART of the starfish s stomach climbs out through its mouth, through the tiny crack in the oyster, and begins to digest the meat of the shellfish As the stomach expands, the shell of the dying oyster or clam begins to relax, and in time the entire stomach of the starfish invades the shell of its prey and eats all of it With the meal finished, the stomach re-enters the starfish's mouth and the five-footed creature moves on to its next victim Sounds like science fiction, doesn't it "The Case of the Stomach Invaders"' The starfish is capable of regeneration, as are many

forms of life, but our echinoderm goes a little further with its renewal capabilities If a portion of one of its arms is broken or torn off. that arm will replace itself, growing from a small bud to full maturity and size in about a year. At the same time, the starfish, in its regeneration process, can reproduce itself entirely from a broken part of itself. Any arm of a starfish that has been broken with a portion of its center or central disk still intact can develop into a complete five-armed (or more, depending on species) starfish in about a year's time in most cases Fascinating' You bet it is! TO TOP ALL of this information off. there are both male and female starfish and they produce eggs and sperm for the creation of new starfish as well As mentioned before, oystermen really dread the starfish population, and for a time they would nd their oyster beds of starfish with various methods, and then cut the starfish in half and throw them back into the sea. They thought they were killing the pesky critters, but indeed they were creating a second starfish with regenerative capabilities that are mind boggling There are new. more effective methods available to the oystermen for ridding their beds of the dreaded starfish now Prob&My the most com mon starfish, and the one we find on our beaches, is the Forbes starfish. Watch the rocks and jettys. There may be a cluster of starfish for you to examine or add tot your collection of beachcombed artifacts. Be the stars in your eyes, or the stars in the skies, be sure to look for the stars on the beach. They're the pretty part of your summer fun.

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Children Given Aid By Social Security

By DEL BROOKS Many people do not realize the protection the Social Security program provides to children Moet think of the aid to families with dependent children ( AFDC ) program when they think about help available to orphans and children. However, in i960, the latest year for which complete figures are available, total AFDC payments were $12.1 billion, while Social Security payment to children were $10.4 billion. Social Security Benefits are paid to the unmarried children of retired, deceas-

ed or disabled workers until the child reaches 18 or 19 if still In high school. If a child is disabled before age 22, benefits continue as long as the disability exists. MORE THAN 3.9 million children now get Social * Security benefits, and nine out of 10 children under age 18 could get benefits should a parent die. By far the largest number of children get survivors benefits due to the death of a parent — some 2.3 million. The second largest number are the dependents of disabled workers million.