03/05/2024
Friendly reminder as people prepare for their winter vacations and March Break
Ive seen this so many times while visiting the Caribbean. So disappointing to see and often times it was too late to save the starfish. Do NOT take them out of the water - not even or a few seconds
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ก๐จ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง?
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, itโs how they breathe, like having hundreds of tiny noses all over your body.
As fresh air is toxic to starfish, and they canโt hold their breath for very long, each time theyโre lifted out of the water for a photo op, they are drowning and suffering from a build up of carbon dioxide. Itโs the equivalent of someone filling your lungs with water for a little while and then emptying them again. Itโs not a good day out. When this is done repeatedly, itโs a flip of the coin whether the poor creature can die from drowning or the stress of being semi-drowned so many times.
Wildlife are not our playthings. Just because a creature is slow enough to be caught by human hands, that doesnโt give us the right to do so, and the social media attention gained certainly does not justify the harm caused to the critter.
This is an act weโre all guilty of at some point. What was happening to that animal at the moment didnโt cross our minds. But now we know better, so we must do better.
๐๐จ๐จ๐ค, ๐๐จ๐งโ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ก.
