Echinodermata! Starfish! Sea Urchins! Sea Cucumbers! Stone Lillies! Feather Stars! Blastozoans! Sea Daisies!
Marine invertebrates found throughout the world's oceans with a rich and ancient fossil legacy. Their biology and evolution includes a wide range of crazy and wonderful things. Let me share those things with YOU!
Probably the FIRST time that the Crown of Thorns Starfish (Acanthaster planci) has EVER been shown in comic books!! I've written about the Crown of Thorns before....here.. and some cool video here.
Acanthaster is shown to be sort of a monstrous eating machine....screaming "Foooooood.."" which is uh..probably not too far from the truth.. But it DOES get to chase around those dumb little orange fish! ha! Take that vertebrates! and..it looks like the artist actually did their homework and did a "picture-real" rendition of at least one color variant (A. planci is actually highly variable in color)
So..many of you may know that I *gasp* am a comic book fan! A BIG one.
Starfish are probably one of the best known marine animals anywhere-so naturally, SOMEONE was bound to use them in some kind of fantastic pop culture reference.
So, in honor of SDCC and a recent storyline featuring Starro, here I compare the character VS the REALITY!
Are they SO different?? yes-one lives in space and true starfish do not. But consider this:
1. The new Starro (from R.E.B.E.L.S. annual #1) has this fearsome new look! An interesting mesh of several possible living species!
The body, for example, is CLEARLY from the family Asteriidae. Such as this specimen of Pisaster ochraceus from the west coast of North America.
Starro clearly has adambulacral spines, an actinal surface and even a set of marginal plates around the ventrolateral edge. Even MORE interesting-Starro has TEETH! Yes, the ones in the middle of the arm are most noticeable..but if you look on the angles pointing into the mouth?? With the spines directed orally??/
REAL starfish have these also!! Some such as this odontasterid (Acodontaster) have one big teeth projecting out from the mouth. Some starfish have TWO spines around the mouth!!! The name of this beast-Diplodontias-LITERALLY means "two teeth". "Diplo"= two and "odontos"=teeth! Some beasts, such as this specimen of Pteraster gibber have teeth with clear, hyaline tips (in red circles)!! ....and just to be thorough...some brittle stars have something similar-they also have "teeth" that project into the mouth! 2. The Old Starro did the mind-control thing by grabbing onto the face and voila! Instant zombies! ....and who among starfish enthusiasts does not have slavish devotion to their subjects?? Have a great weekend!
Perhaps one of my favoritest things in the world is giant monsters: Godzilla!, Ultraman!, giant robots, big massive things that destroy stuff! Threaten the world! etc.
Japan, as one of the most creative countries in the world, has created a whole GENRE of films, TV and media that feature big monsters (called kaiju for 'mythical beast' in Japanese) and aliens (called seijin in Japanese) (and did I mention the guys in rubber foam suits??) as both antagonists and protagonists. Japan is also a country that is creatively inspired by the animal life living around it. Two of their emperors were marine biologists (and taxonomists to boot!).
So, it should come as no surprise that the two paths should cross....Here are some of the most prominent echinoderm-(mostly starfish) inspired creatures from Japanese science fiction! 1. The Starfish Aliens from "Warning From Space"
I like it! 2. The Monstrous Pestar from Ultraman
From the 1960s classic Japanese show Ultraman (about a giant Silver giant alien who comes to Earth and fights monsters) is Pestar! The kaiju from the episode "Oil SOS" !!!
Pestar was two parts starfish, along with a BAT head stuck to it in the middle. It breathed fire and destroyed oil refineries!
Plus, it gets turned into a BUNCH of action figures:
(taken from someone's completely random collection! really!)
Some of which, glow in the dark!!
3. The Bizarre Brittle Star Deimos from Ultraman Leo!
Now, WHERE will you ever find someone who can make a monster out of an ophiuroid? Ultraman Leo was a later incarnation of the successful Ultraman show, which ran from 1974 to 1975. He fights a host of monsterous beasts, many of which take after marine life!
The six rays are perhaps inspired by the tropical six-rayed brittle stars Ophiactis savignyi or Ophiothela which would be found in the tropical regions of Japan??
4. Hitode murasaki (purple starfish) from the show "Kikaider" Kikaider=good guy with cool half blue/half red costume who fought evil monsters every week. These monsters typically had an animal theme and acted as the "boss" to a bunch of evil minions.. having some gimmick or power that made him the special menace of the week...
The sinister "Purple starfish" could apparently fly and leap over walls! Not a common adaptation seen in your garden variety echinoderm... 5. And of course......
So, this week, starfish were featured prominently in issue #2 of the Boom Comics rendition of Disney Pixar's "Finding Nemo".
and..it looks like the artist actually did their homework and did a "picture-real" rendition of at least one color variant (A. planci is actually highly variable in color)
Actual mouth: no tongue and uh...no canines! Plus Acanthaster would have probably NO interest in eating living clownfish...
(from this excellent website on echinoderms from the Gulf of Aqaba)
"Well, the other fish tend to think we're a little strange..."
