Once the starfish's skin is punctured, the soft internal organs can easily be torn into pieces by the starfish shrimp.
Anemone shrimps are called anemone shrimps because they live alongside sea anemones, with the two having a friendly symbiotic relationship.
Starfish shrimps are called starfish shrimps because they prey on starfish, and the relationship between the two is not friendly at all.
There are even some picky starfish shrimps whose only food in their diet is starfish. They will not eat anything else and would rather starve to death.
Moreover, starfish shrimps are quite picky about starfish. The starfish species most favored by starfish shrimps is the pine starfish, followed by the crown-of-thorns starfish and the chain-beaded starfish. When food is scarce, starfish shrimps will also prey on other starfish such as finger starfish.
After successfully defeating a starfish, ripping it open and tearing apart its internal organs, the starfish shrimp generally likes to eat the tubes on the starfish's tentacles first, and rarely eats the starfish's body disc unless food is extremely scarce.
Plus, starfish shrimp are really smart.
After field investigations, marine biologists have even discovered that some starfish shrimps are so smart that every time they hunt, they only break off a few of the starfish's tentacles, then let the starfish's body disc escape, waiting to repeat the trick the next time the starfish's tentacles grow back.
Some aquarium enthusiasts have also observed that starfish shrimps will store food for war preparations. Because they no longer have a large source of food, the starfish shrimps kept in aquariums cherish every starfish.
A trainer at the Changsha Underwater Park said that he had never seen any marine creature smarter and easier to keep alive than starfish shrimps. When raising starfish shrimps and starfish together, you only need to keep the starfish alive because the starfish shrimps never kill the starfish. Each time they hunt, they only eat a little bit of the starfish's tentacles. When one starfish's tentacles are eaten up, they switch to another and continue eating. They never harm the core of the starfish.
Because starfish have very strong regenerative abilities, their tentacles can grow back after a while after being broken, and starfish shrimps usually have very small appetites, so usually you only need to raise a few starfish and one starfish shrimp together to achieve a balance between income and expenditure.
What is very interesting is that starfish shrimps only prey on adult starfish. Not only do they not prey on baby starfish, they even take good care of them, just like early primitive people domesticating livestock.
"Captain, here is the fish tank you asked for." Two crew members carried a fish tank about one and a half meters long and placed it in front of Xiang Yang.
"Thank you." Xiang Yang thanked him and then poured all the starfish shrimps in the net bag into the fish tank.
The starfish shrimps sank immediately after arriving at the fish tank. Although they are shrimps, they hardly swim and can only crawl slowly at the bottom of the water.
However, their five pairs of legs are very flexible. They can be used for crawling, resisting enemies, and collecting food. However, Xiang Yang forgot how the five pairs of legs are specifically divided. He will find out after feeding them a starfish when he has time.
One of the crew members pressed his eyes to the glass wall of the water tank. He licked his lips and asked curiously, "Captain, you value these shrimps so much. They must taste great, right?"
"It tastes great?" Xiang Yang asked back.
"Yes." The crew member said as a matter of course, "Otherwise, why would you personally deliver them to the deck and immediately keep them in the live water tank?"
"I don't know whether they taste good or not, but it is certain that eating them will not make you feel comfortable," Xiang Yang said.
Although starfish shrimps look so ferocious when preying on starfish, they are actually just one of the marine predators at the bottom of the marine food chain. If they encounter a slightly more ferocious marine predator, they will be immediately defeated.
When starfish shrimps are lying motionless on the seabed, they like to wave their two large claws. The main reason for doing this is to make them look tough and thus deter possible enemies.
If deterrence doesn't work, the starfish shrimp will only have one last trump card.
Starfish shrimp themselves are not toxic, but they absorb toxins from their prey during their normal feeding, making themselves the last supper of the marine predators that prey on them, a typical example of a ghost that will not let go.
"This kind of shrimp is called starfish shrimp. They will store all the toxins they swallow in their lifetime in their bodies. If you are lucky, you may just have diarrhea after eating one. If you are unlucky..." Xiang Yang chuckled and didn't continue. No one can say for sure what the toxins of starfish shrimp are, but it is not uncommon for people to die regardless of whether they are poisonous or not.
The crew member shuddered upon hearing this, and instantly refused to put his face close to the glass tank. He said with lingering fear: "Captain, why did you fish out such horrible shrimps?"
Xiang Yang looked at the crew member speechlessly, "You don't think that catch is only catch that can be eaten, right?"
Edible marine fish only account for a very small part of seafood; there are also ornamental fish, medicinal seafood, etc.
The crew member also knew that he had said something wrong. He smiled awkwardly and changed the subject: "Captain, are these shrimps you caught for viewing?"
Xiang Yang nodded. "Starfish shrimps look very nice and are a very popular type of shrimp in the ornamental fish market. Each of the ones I caught is worth at least a few hundred yuan."
"A shrimp the size of half a palm can be worth hundreds of dollars?" The crew members looked at Xiang Yang in surprise.
Xiang Yang nodded. Shrimp is a relatively valuable marine creature. Ordinary lobsters can be sold for several hundred yuan per pound. With its appearance, there is no reason why starfish shrimps cannot be sold for less than a few hundred yuan each.
"Captain, are there many of these shrimps down there?" The crew became excited when they saw Xiang Yang nod.
Xiang Yang smiled and said, "It's hard to say. There may be only a dozen or so, or there may be many. But I estimate that the number of starfish shrimps below is not too small, because there is a huge underwater beach below. There are quite a few starfish living on the beach, and the starfish shrimps have a very sufficient food source."
As soon as Xiang Yang finished speaking, another person emerged from under the sea. It was Fang Youqun.
He took off his helmet on the surface of the water and shouted, "Guess what I caught on the bottom of the sea, guys? You will never guess. I caught a group of strange shrimps that look like cows..."
Xiang Yang stuck his head out from the side of the boat.
Fang Youqun was like a gander whose neck was choked by someone. After a long while, he smiled awkwardly and said, "Brother Yang, you came up?"
Xiang Yang nodded and said with a smile: "It seems that there are quite a lot of starfish shrimps down here. Fang Youqun, how many did you catch?"