Re: BIO: Starfish and Lobsters

Doug Bailey (Doug.Bailey@ey.com)
Wed, 23 Sep 1998 16:57:51 -0400

> In the realm of marine biology it has long been observed that both
> starfish and lobsters have very unique traits which, to the best of
> current biological knowledge, do not occur elsewhere in nature. For
> one, starfish have regenerative capabilities: if one were to cut off
> the limbs of a starfish (as many unknowing fishermen have often done)
> it does not actually kill the starfish...in fact it creates five more
> in its place. Biologists know that this is an advanced form of budding,
> but they do not know how or why.

Bova discussed this in his new book on immortality. If I recall correctly (I don't have the book in front of me), he did not mention any instances where the ecology of these entities were investigated for possible applicability to humans.

Doug
doug.bailey@ey.com