Starfish in the sea
What happens when we lift a starfish out of water for an impromptu photo session?
All over the body of starfish are papules called dermal gills. Carbon dioxide gases are exchanged for oxygen between the coelomic liquid of the starfish and the water. Essentially, it’s how they breathe, like having hundreds of tiny noses all over your body.
As fresh air is toxic to starfish and they can’t hold their breath for very long, each time they’re lifted out of the water for a photo op, they are drowning and suffering from a build up of carbon dioxide. It’s the equivalent of someone filling your lungs with water for a little while and then emptying them again. It’s not a good day out. When this is done repeatedly, it’s a flip of the coin as to whether the poor creature can die from drowning or the stress of being semi-drowned so many times.
It's a bit of a generalization as it actually depends on the species, some are made to live a few hours outside water because of the tides. Out of the couple of thousand of species of starfish, there are a few designed to survive in the sand and tidal pools and even some of those die from the stress when exposed to air. But that’s besides the point which is animals are not your play things and selfie props.
Photograph by Diane Campbell
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