Stones, shells, or rocks do not stop it. The rays slide up and over
them. If we had feet like those of the Starfish, a journey up the wall
of a house, over the roof, and down again, would be nothing to us.
Nature gives all creatures the kind of foot which suits the life they
lead. And it is hard to imagine feet more useful to the Starfish than
those wonderful sucker-feet!

Ask any fisherman what he thinks of the "harmless" Starfish, and he will
call it a pest and a nuisance. "It gets into the crab traps," he says,
"and eats all the bait. And when we are line-fishing it sucks the bait
off our hooks, and sometimes swallows hook and all." Small wonder that
Five-fingers, or Five-fingered Jack, as it is called, has no friend
among fisher-folk.

On pulling up a useless Starfish instead of a real fish, the fisherman
tears the offender in half and throws the halves back into the waves. By
doing this he harms himself more than the Starfish! Each half grows into
a perfect Starfish with five rays complete. We can say that each part of
this animal has a separate life, for each part can grow when torn away.

If you were asked to open an oyster you would need tools, would you not?
Even with an oyster-knife it is not always an easy job. The oyster,
tight in his shelly fortress, seems safe from the attack of a weak
Starfish. Yet the Starfish opens and eats oysters as part of its
everyday life.

Finding a nice fat oyster, it sets to work. The Starfish folds its rays
over its victim, with its mouth against the edge where the shells meet.
The tug-of-war begins. The Starfish's tube-feet try to pull the shells