Print
03 May 2012| last updated at 12:50AM

Starfish facts



0 comments

• Although they live under water, they are not fish. Starfish have tiny tube feet to help them move along.

• Also known as sea stars, and there are over 2,000 species in the world. Some live in the seashore zone, some in deep water, some in tropical areas and some in cold water.
• Starfish can be found in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes, except they all resemble a star. While some appear smooth, they actually have spines covering their upper surface and a soft underside. If you gently turn over a live starfish, you‘ll see its tube feet wiggling back at you.
• If a starfish is chopped into pieces, each piece can grow a whole new starfish.
• Starfish do not have a brain or blood.
• Starfish do not have eyes, but they are not completely blind. Starfish sense light and shapes through an eyespot located at the tip of their arms.
• The five-armed varieties of sea stars are the most well known. Not all sea stars have five arms. Some have more arms; the sun star, for instance, has up to 40 arms!
Source:
http://www.factsnfacts.com

By Catherine Ong
12, Kuala Lumpur

<HR>

Handcuff Harry

Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born, American stunt performer who was famous for his escape acts. He was first known as Handcuff Harry because of a challenge he gave to many policemen to lock him up. This was a start for him to show off his talent.

By 1904, thousands had watched Houdini freeing himself from many handcuffs. His peak performance was to escape from a special handcuff commissioned by London’s Daily Mirror, which he succeeded in doing but claimed it was his most difficult escape. Soon, he extended his repertoire to include chairs, straitjackets, ropes, being under water and many other things. Another stunt saw him being buried alive and only able to claw himself to the surface in the nick of time.

Houdini died on Halloween, October 31 1926. They used the bronze casket Houdini had made for his Buried Alive show to transport his body from Detroit to New York for the funeral.

By Mark Verghese
Anthony, 12, Melaka

Leave Your Comment


Leave Your Comment:

New Straits Times reserves the right not to publish offensive or abusive comments and those of hate speech, harassment, commercial promos and invasion of privacy. Your IP will be logged and may be used to prevent further submission.The views expressed here are that of the members of the public and unless specifically stated are not those of NST.


Channels