Friday, November 24, 2017

Royalty

Starfish are not rare; but nor are they common on our beaches. This Royal Starfish (Astropecten articulatus), probably named for its bright purple color, washed up on the beach this past summer.


















The royal starfish, like all starfish, has no brain. They also have no blood. Instead they have a water vascular system. The starfish's primitive eyes are at the tip of its arms.

Starfish can reproduce by physical birth or by giving up an arm to morph into another starfish.

The Royal Starfish feeds by wrapping its arms around mollusks and swallowing them whole. 

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is my analysis of a sentence penned by surveyor Jonathan Price in 1795. The sentence reads, "Occacock was heretofore, and still retains the name of, an island. It is now a peninsula; a heap of sand having gradually filled up the space which divided it from the bank."  You can read my analysis here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/description-occacock-1795/

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:02 PM

    no one cares

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:29 AM

    Wow, what an idiot, Anonymous 2:02. Philip, you know many, many greatly enjoy and appreciate this blog. I know you aren't bothered by such comments, but I felt compelled to respond none the less. You are a treasure trove of information. God bless!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:24 PM

    How rude
    And UNTRUE!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous4:17 PM

    Anonymous 2:02, you are free to go elsewhere and be rude and miserable. The world, unfortunately, is becoming cluttered with people such as yourself. Those of us who read Philips blog do so because we treasure the stories, the history, literature and worldly connections about a glorious spot that we all love.
    NJ Reader

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:17 PM

    Thank you for the info on the Royal starfish. Interesting, whereas anon 2:02 is not. Keep going Philip. People like that will soon tire and fade away.
    WAKE UP anon 2:02 there are a lot of interesting things on this site! Like I said before YOU are not one of them. NS

    ReplyDelete