Article Lead Image

Do you know what a starfish looks like when it walks?

Starfish don't move like you might guess. 

 

Mike Fenn

Internet Culture

Posted on Jun 25, 2014   Updated on May 31, 2021, 1:47 am CDT

You know how starfish walk: They just push themselves up on five legs and skitter around the ocean floor. Right? 

Wrong. 

YouTube user Brennan Lane got a close-up look at how starfish actually move around. Despite having five very noticeable limbs (which have regenerative properties), starfish actually walk using thousands of cilia on the bottoms of their bodies. And, as the video show, they can move at decent speed… for starfish. 

We hope that Brennan and the people heard chatting in the video released their new friend back into the ocean. It doesn’t look like those legs would be very good on dry sandy beaches.


Screengrab via Brennan Lane / YouTube

Share this article
*First Published: Jun 25, 2014, 7:30 pm CDT