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Mythbusters: Sea Stars have eyes?

Now there have been many questions about where the eyes of a sea star are actually located.

Some say that the eyes are located on the mid section of the sea stars while others say they have no eyes at all. Multiple animated movies and cartoon shows depicts a sea star with eyes on the mid section of their body, so many people actually believe that the eyes are located in that spot.

However, what if I told you that the eyes of the sea star are not located there? What!?! Yeah it’s hard to believe when your favorite child hood cartoon leads you with false details of a sea star’s anatomy.

The eyes of a sea star are actually located at the ends of each on of its arms! So depending on how many arms a sea stars has determines how many eyes they have. These eyes however are not like the eyes you and I have. These eyes cannot see much detail or color, but they can see shadows and lights. This helps them identify if an organism is bigger or smaller than they are so they can decide if it is a predator or possible prey.

Now I bet your wondering, why would cartoons and movies make a sea star out to have eyes on it mid section? Well, can you imagine how scary that cartoon or movie would be for children if they saw the talking sea star with five or more eyes walking around? Yeah, it would probably give those children nightmares of those cartoons and movies for a long time.

Your next question maybe, what is actually located on the center of the sea star? Well that will be another question to answer in the next Mythbusters!