Spotlight On…
Check out this week’s featured specimen!
(Pictured below, really close up!)
Photo: N. Sincero 2011
Can you guess what it is?
Here are some hints:
- This animal has a hard skin, which helps prevent water loss.
- This animal has hundreds of feet!
Leave us a comment with your answer! Then come see us outside the Project Lab on Friday, August 5th at 11:30 AM for Specimen Spotlight in order to find out if you’re right.
this is known as a sunfish in canada
Comment by koran — August 2, 2011 @ 4:00 pm
starfish
Comment by shep — August 2, 2011 @ 4:05 pm
a sea star! i just saw tons of ‘em yesterday morning at a minus tide by haystack rock in cannon beach, oregon.
Comment by allegra — August 2, 2011 @ 4:10 pm
Asteroidea —- seastar?!?
Comment by Marija — August 2, 2011 @ 4:27 pm
I think it looks like sea star skin.
Comment by Laurel Przybylski — August 2, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
It looks like sea star skin
Comment by Laurel Przybylski — August 2, 2011 @ 4:56 pm
a starfish! or a sea star…whatever you want to call it!
Comment by Cristina — August 2, 2011 @ 4:57 pm
Sea Star definitely!
Comment by Kaydee — August 2, 2011 @ 5:01 pm
Looks like an ochre star.
Comment by Amy — August 2, 2011 @ 6:58 pm
an echinoderm
Comment by stephan — August 3, 2011 @ 10:41 am
The sea star, in the echinoderm family, is known for its “bumpy skin” and its radial symmetry. Did you know it’s in the same family as the sea cucumber?
Comment by James Joaquin — August 4, 2011 @ 10:24 pm
Wow, great guesses again this week! It is in fact a picture of the “derm” of an echinoderm, namely the skin of Pisaster ochraceus, which is also known as the Ochre Sea Star. We have lots of them here at the Academy, including in our touch tidepool. The Encyclopedia of Life has a great entry about them which includes photos of the entire animal.
We’ll have a new guess-the-specimen game on Tuesday, but in the meantime can you tell us Who Pooped?
Comment by nature — August 5, 2011 @ 10:12 am