Sexual Reproduction
The main organ a starfish has to reproduce is the Gonads. The starfish simply ejects sperm into the water and females make babies from it. The sperm simply fertilizes eggs that the females make. Some starfish actually change into females as they get older. Therefore there is a very young age of sexual maturity.Starfish have about 36 chromosomes.
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Interesting idea of how to make starfish release sperm....
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The Growth and development of offspring
The Eggs of starfish generally skip their larva stage and immediatly grow into a small little starfish. The starfish get their nutrition from the yolk of their egg. Starfish babies do something called "brooding" because of how they skip their larva state. The way a male starfish releases his sperm into the water is by "hugging" the female because this makes both of them release eggs and sperm at the same time. Generally this will be done in large groups at similar times. The time it takes for a starfish to reach sexual maturity ranges from 2-5 years and their lifespan ranges from about 10-30 years. The amount of offspring that a starfish can have is hard to determine. Since they release their sperm into the water with other starfish, it can be up to a million eggs they can fertalize.