I caught a starfish

[Johnny_L.A]

I haven’t been fishing since I was 15. (Well, I went last week; but it was more “playing-at-fishing”.) A friend and I went out in the zodiac today to try our luck. We were hoping for surf perch, cod, or some sort of flounder. We were using herring for bait.

Well, we didn’t catch any fish; but I did get an echinoderm. My line was rather heavy, and when I pulled it up there was a large (about 40cm) sea star clinging tenaciously to my herring head. As it happens, the hooks we bought were double. There is one hook, then a second one about 10cm down from the first. The top hook (the one without bait) was stick in the sea star’s arm. Well, that’s what it gets for trying to steal my bait!

We traid another spot to no avail. We stopped where we had seen a large number of flounders before, and tried there. When my friend’s Pocket Fisherman malfunctioned, we decided to head in. I felt a tug when I reeled in my line, and when I got the hook in I saw that something had gotten the bait. There was just a bit of backbone on the hook. Probably dungeness crabs got to the bait both times my hook came up empty.

But at least I caught a starfish.

[LolaBaby]

So did you have it with fava beans and a nice Chianti?

[Revtim]

You could cut it up into pieces, then watch the pieces grow into new starfish. That’s probably cruel though, I cannot recommend you do that.

[Ashkicker]

I didn’t know you could eat starfish.

[sailor]

I heard they are considered pests because they eat the young shellfish so fishermen harvest starfishes just to get rid of them and they are used for fertilizer.

[Boyo_Jim]

You did right. No responsible seaman would stay out on the water once the Pocket Fisherman malfunctioned.

[Sylkyn]

First thing I thought of, when I read the OP’s title, was the screensaver “Johnny Castaway”. He always grumbled and griped under his breath when he caught that stupid starfish. Couldn’t eat that.

Cool, though. Wish you’d taken a picture. They’re kind of neat looking. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that wasn’t already dead and in a Panama City souvenir shop.

[Johnny_L.A]

You could cut it up into pieces, then watch the pieces grow into new starfish.

Wouldn’t want to do that! As sailor mentioned, they can be pests. I was going to say that sea stars eat the holdfasts of kelp, but I’m not certain. (I know urchins do; so killing seals imcreases the urchin populaion, which reduces the kelp forest, which results in the loss of something else…) Anyway, too many sea stars can be a bad thing.

I didn’t know you could eat starfish.

I was watching a documentary a few weeks ago, where a European oceanographer was being led into the Arctic by native fishermen. They Inuit guys caught a couple of sea stars and ate them by ripping off the arms and sucking whatever was inside of the arms out of them.

Cool, though. Wish you’d taken a picture.

How do you know we didn’t?

Actually, we did take two snaps of it. I’ll try to remember to post it after I finish off the roll.

As to the fate of the sea star: After taking the photos I tossed it back into the ocean.

[koeeoaddi]

[Elizabeth Bishop] — until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go. [/The Fish]

My favorite kind of fish story, Johnny L.A.!

[Ashkicker]

@Johnny L.A.

As to the fate of the sea star: After taking the photos I tossed it back into the ocean.

Cool. That is what I was hoping you did with it.

[LolaBaby]

I hope this isn’t a rule being broken. If it is I apologize in advance and edit my post as you see fit.

The Starfish Story

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to

the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the

beach before he began his work.

One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked

down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.

He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance

to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the

young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he was reaching

down to the shore, picking up something and very gently

throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out,

“Good morning! What are you doing?”

The young man paused, looked up and replied,

“Throwing starfish in the ocean.”

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing

starfish in the ocean?"

"The sun is up, and the tide is going out. And if I don’t

throw them in they’ll die."

"But, young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and

miles of beach, and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly

make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked

another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking

waves and said,

“It made a difference for that one.”

There is something very special in each and every one of us.

We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference.

And if we can become aware of that gift, we gain through the

strength of our visions the power to shape the future.

We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our stars

wisely and well, the world will be blessed.

Attributed to Loren Eisley

[Tikki]

Aww, that was nice LolaBaby.
Johnny, you’ll soon find that catching starfish up here isn’t uncommon. Especially if you try your luck at squidding. My family was on a dock watching people squid a few months ago. One of them had pulled up a big sun star with about 8 or 10 arms and dumped it on the dock to die. Starfish are the bane of squidders. My sister and I picked it up and tossed it over the other side of the dock, hoping it wouldn’t make it’s way back to the squidders’ side. I think we earned the irritation of at least one of them, probably more.

What’s cool is catching a sea pen. Especially near dusk. They’re orange but have these stripes of green bioluminesence that pulsate up their plumes when they’re scared. Of course, we toss them back too.

You should get yourself a crab pot though. Crabs are too tasty to toss back. Much to their chagrin, I’m sure.

[Johnny_L.A]

You should get yourself a crab pot though.

Unfortunately, crab season doesn’t start until August. I suppose I could gather oysters though.

[Bad_News_Baboon]

For God’s sakes, throw it BACK.

Poor Spongebob will be lonely if you don’t.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Bumped.

TIL about starfish:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/02/world/starfish-head-body-plan-scn/index.html

[Dag_Otto]

Missed my chance to get out for Halloween as a starfish zombie. Or perhaps a zombie starfish.

[markn_1]

I once saw a Crown of Thorns seastar when I was snorkeling in Hawaii. It looked similar to this. Very cool.

Crown-of-thorns Starfish by Georgette Douwma

[TriPolar]

I caught a starfish around 10 years ago, which is also around 10 years after the OP caught one. Just foul snagged it I assume. Caught a plastic bag that day also. Threw the starfish back, kept the bag to dispose of in the appropriate place. Still more than my fishing buddy caught that day so I recorded in the W column.