Dear Kid,
If one goes to Cozumel, and one should at some point, one should go scuba diving (if one likes that sort of thing) and/or snorkeling (if one likes that sort of thing).
If you don’t like that sort of thing, you might want to find a glass bottom boat tour or something.
The point is, life below the sea is stunning. The ocean is crystal clear, the reefs are teaming with life, and observers get to see a lot.
The fish (unfortunately) don’t have name tags which makes it hard to know who they are. But still—gorgeous.
Not only should one visit the reefs, one should visit the Starfish Sanctuary. This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The sand was snowy white, the water was gorgeous, and (wait for it) there were starfish everywhere.
Starfish are not generally the most active of creatures, so there’s plenty of time to get a good look at them. (However, when starfish move, they can move pretty quickly using hundreds of tiny tube feet.)
They aren’t fish (no gills, fins, or scales) so these days they are generally called sea stars (which I find disconcerting because I grew up thinking they were called starfish).
Sea stars live a long time (up to 35 years) and they can be really heavy for their size (up to 11 pounds).
Don’t try to train a starfish (I really can’t help myself) because they don’t have a brain. They don’t have blood either; rather they use sea water to deliver nutrients through their nervous system.
Sea stars usually have five arms. I saw one with six arms, and there are varieties that have up to 40. Which makes it difficult to buy them sweaters. When they lose an arm, they can generally grow it back. But it can take up to a year to regenerate.
Don’t invite a starfish to dinner as their table manners leave something to be desired. When they capture prey, they grab it with teeny little suction cups. Then (ick) they push their stomach out of their mouth (which is on their underside) to digest the food. It can even slide its stomach inside a closed clam or mussel, and can eat things bigger than their mouths because the undigested food doesn’t have to be swallowed. Once sea star is done eating it puts its tummy away.
Male and female starfish look alike so it’s been difficult for starfish dating sites to gain traction. In addition, they don’t have great vision even though they have an eye spot at the end of each arm. Presumably, the starfish figure it all out.
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