Although you might have heard that sea stars use their tube feet to grab hold of mussels and to pull the two valves open slightly (enough to insert their stomach inside the shell), you don't always get to see the tube feet in action.
Often the sea star is hunched up over the mussel, so it's hard to see what's going on. In this case, the Ochre Sea Star (Pisaster ochraceus) is pulling on a very large mussel and it hasn't yet moved into a position where the tube feet are hard to see.
Here's an even closer view:
Impressive!
I wonder if they always try to go in from the hinged end of the mussel. Glad to see the sea stars coming back.
ReplyDeleteWhy am I suddenly feeling very queasy about seeing that 'poor mussel' being verry slowly and verrry relentlessly pried open?
ReplyDeleteSo good to see big healthy looking sea stars again. Fingers crossed for a strong recovery.
ReplyDelete