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
Starfish are simultaneous hermaphrodites, producing eggs and sperm at the same time and in a few of these, the same gonad, called an ovotestis, produces both eggs and sperm. Other starfish are sequential hermaphrodites. Protandrous individuals of species like "Asterina gibbosa" start life as males before changing sex into females as they grow older. In some species such as "Nepanthia belcheri", a large female can split in half and the resulting offspring are males. When these grow large enough they change back into females. Each starfish arm contains two gonads that release gametes through openings called gonoducts, located on the central