Starfish Studies (Patreon)

Done a bit of research, and I think the species I'm gonna go with this month is gonna be the Granulated Sea Star, also known as the "doughboy" sea star.  Not only is it adorable, it looks a little bit like...  Well, you either see it or you don't.

Chad seems to have a track record for becoming phallic sea creatures.  It's very funny to me.  I couldn't resist.

Those little holes that look like urethra?  those are eyes.  

Some more interesting facts about starfish:

They don't have blood.  Instead, they have a system of tubes that pump seawater through their body, which they draw nutrients from. 

Their arms (actually called rays) have hundreds of little tube feet that use the starfish's hydraulic system to expand and contract.  They sort of look like suction cups, but they don't use suction at all.  They secrete a glue-like chemical to stick on to a surface, and then an anti-glue chemical to let go.  The tube feet at the tips of their rays are specialized to smell the water around them.

They have no brain, either, and cannot plan their actions.  When one of their arms smells food, it becomes dominant and pulls the starfish in that direction.  

Not only can a starfish regrow a ray that is severed, a severed ray can sometimes grow a whole new starfish.  Some species reproduce by splitting in half and becoming two more starfish.  

A few species of starfish can reproduce asexually, while most of them just shoot sperm into the water around them and hope they come in contact with a female's eggs. 

They have clusters of tiiiiiny little clampy-jaw things on their skin that keep algae and stuff from growing on them.