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Starfish have hundreds of feet but no brain – here's how they move

Starfish feet are coordinated purely through mechanical loading, enabling the animals to bounce rhythmically along the seabed without a central nervous system

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

16 April 2024

 

Tubular feet on the underside of a chocolate chip sea star

Matthew McHenry and Eva Kanso

Starfish coordinate hundreds of feet to hop about – and they do it without a brain. A new understanding of how they manage this could inspire underwater exploration robots that work on the same principles.

The marine invertebrates, also known as sea stars, lift their bodies off the ground with their tiny tubular feet to move across underwater surfaces like rocks and sand. “[The feet are] almost like mini-organisms, all sort of attached to the same body – and you’ve got…

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