Not the coral skeletons, just the delicate coral polyps. Coral flesh is just a thin film on the outside of the coral skeleton and the polyps can withdraw down into protective little cups, so coral is not very easy to make a meal out of. A hungry starfish climbs up on a coral and pulls its stomach out of its mouth with its tube feet. The starfish has thousands of these flexible tube feet, each ending with a little suction cup. The feet pass the stomach from one to the next until the big yellow stomach is spread out over the coral. Then the stomach expels digestive juices over the live coral to dissolve it. The cells of the stomach scoff up the bits of dissolving coral. When the starfish has cleaned the coral right to the white calcium carbonate skeleton, it sucks in its stomach and moves off, using its tube
Not the coral skeletons, just the delicate coral polyps. Coral flesh is just a thin film on the outside of the coral skeleton and the polyps can withdraw down into protective little cups, so coral is not very easy to make a meal out of. A hungry starfish climbs up on a coral and pulls its stomach out of its mouth with its tube feet. The starfish has thousands of these flexible tube feet, each ending with a little suction cup. The feet pass the stomach from one to the next until the big yellow stomach is spread out over the coral. Then the stomach expels digestive juices over the live coral to dissolve it. The cells of the stomach scoff up the bits of dissolving coral. When the starfish has cleaned the coral right to the white calcium carbonate skeleton, it sucks in its stomach and moves off, using its tube