143.DOES A STARFISH HAVE EYES?
The starfish is one of the most curious of sea creatures. Among its queer relatives are the prickly sea-urchins, the sea cucumbers, and the sand dollars. There are more than 6,000 of these relatives and they are called “echinoderms,” which means spiny-skinned.
The starfish and its relatives all have well-developed nervous and digestive systems. This system follows the same five-armed arrangement which occurs in all echinoderms.
142.DO FISH HAVE HEART?
Sometimes it is hard for us to imagine that creatures which are so unlike us have organs very much like ours that function in the same way. Many people think that because a fish lives in the water and is cold-blooded it must lack various organs, or not have certain senses.
Actually, the anatomy of a fish is very much like that of higher warm-blooded animals. In fact, many scientists believe this similarity is evidence that life on land evolved from life in the sea!
141.WHY DO FLIES RUB THEIR LEGS TOGETHER?
It’s a natural thing to consider the housefly a nuisance. It makes an irritating buzzing sound; it annoys you when it crawls on your skin; and so on. For ages that’s what man considered the fly to be just a nuisance.
It was not until the twentieth century that we found out that the innocent-looking housefly is one of man’s worst enemies. It was discovered that these flies carried disease germs that cause the death of millions of people every year!
