Starfish disintegrate after death. Only the ossicles and spines of the animal are likely to be preserved, making remains hard to locate. With their appealing symmetrical shape, starfish have played a part in literature, legend, design and popular culture. They are sometimes collected as curios, used in design or as logos, and in some cultures, despite possible toxicity, they are eaten. Most starfish have five arms that radiate from a central disc, but the number varies with the group. Some species have six or seven arms and others have 10–15 arms. The Antarctic "Labidiaster annulatus" can have over fifty. Having descended
Asexual reproduction in starfish generate new individuals in this way. He thought the arms might be shed by autotomy. In the same year, Monks showed experimentally that the "comets" developing from the severed arms of "Linckia columbiae" could indeed grow into new individuals. "Linckia multifora" and "Linckia guildingi" are two species of starfish found on Hawaii which were found to exhibit autotomy, shedding one or more arms frequently. The arms are known as "comets" and can move about independently and each one can grow into a new individual. Though severed from the nervous system and the water vascular system they still exhibit normal behaviour