True or False: If a starfish is exposed to air it will die

[Esage]

My blue linkia climbs out of the water on it's own from time to time, it is fine and has been for years.

Mine does the same

 

[racoloish]

I say false, a year ago I buy a live rock and i don't put it until the next day and then when i was gonna put the rock in my tank I notice a starfish and right now she still alive.

 

[gacolt]

false.mine have been exposed to air many times and still alive

 

[dss190]

Yeah, I've taken rock out of my tank to catch fish with my red Fromia starfish on the rock (without me realizing), it was probably out of water for around 5-10 minutes, and it didn't have any detrimental effects. I would say just don't leave it out for an extended amount of time and you will be ok. Starfish use a water vascular system that helps them with gas exchange so leaving them out of water to long could maybe suffocate them as they are not getting enough dissolved oxygen that they would normally get in the water. Who knows though, I'm not a scientist.

 

[racoloish]

When I was a kid I remember seeing a couple of starfish in the beach sand and play with them and then throw it back to the ocean. Why is that they go to the surface sand?

 

[racoloish]

I think it was a silver dollar and other type of starfish. Some of them were big like almost a foot.

 

[Countrygirl1963]

Then why do all the pet stores an online tell you not to expose them to the air! I thought it was all BS as I’ve seen them crawling on beaches! So I was right it’s false! Thanks all for verifying my knowledge of wild stars!

 

[saltyhog]

My blue linckia sticks a leg out of water occasionally as noted above. He has also been out of the water briefly when introduced and a couple of times during moves without incident. I've had him about 3 1/2 years.

A friend posted this video.....watch with Tiny Tim's "Tip Toe Through The Tulips" playing in the background.

 

[powers2001]

Why would online livestock sellers ship seastars in plastic bags half filled with air? When the box shifts the water runs down into the other end of the bag and the star is exposed to air.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Also agree false. Some coastal species are out of water often during tide shift and survive.

I think this myth comes from how slow they acclimate to change in water chemistry. People have blamed the air when its the fact they only dripped for an hour expecting it to go from an sg of 1.020 to 1.026 successfully.

 

[John494]

True,,, you guys never dried up a starfish when you were young?

 

[Tanglover11]

My blue linckia sticks a leg out of water occasionally as noted above. He has also been out of the water briefly when introduced and a couple of times during moves without incident. I've had him about 3 1/2 years.

A friend posted this video.....watch with Tiny Tim's "Tip Toe Through The Tulips" playing in the background.

I traveled a few years ago to Fiji and Blue Linkia starfish are very common there. During low tide they can be seen baking in full sun completely out of the water and they thrive. I think it has more to do with length of time in transport and fouling of water in the bags than air exposure.

 

[Rick Cavanaugh]

False. In the wild they get exposed to air 2x per day with the tides. In Ganga Indonesia I saw thousands of blue linkias exposed to the air with every low tide every day.

 

[ca1ore]

Then why do all the pet stores an online tell you not to expose them to the air!

Because, at the end of the day, most of them actually don't know what they're talking about. Once myths get perpetuated in this hobby, it's hard to be rid of them.

 

[Heuristic]

Flase, go to a dock and you'll see a few that get exposed to air when the waves go out

 

[Gareth elliott]

Because, at the end of the day, most of them actually don't know what they're talking about. Once myths get perpetuated in this hobby, it's hard to be rid of them.

My fromia regularly climbs the glass and sticks it legs out of the water. During a water change I occasionally have to pick him off the glass up and place back in. Ive never even seen a momentary change in its behavior. Just goes back to being a starfish.

 

[Young@Heart]

I would expect 'false' with the proviso that they not be left out for a extended period of time. Keep in mind - I have an acrylic tank with the Euro Bracing - so not easy for him to climb out. I do remember a bit of thinking about it when I dripped him and during the first few weeks I would take him out of the tank and put him on top of some food just for him in a transfer to a large bowl (he was exposed to air but only for about 2-3 seconds at a time) - wanted to make sure he was eating.