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
Crown-of-thorns starfish of a proportion of individuals with regenerating arms. A variety of about 11 species have been reported to prey occasionally on uninjured and healthy adults of "A. planci". All of these are generalist feeders and none of these, however, seems to specifically prefer the starfish as a food source. This number, however, is probably lower, as some of these presumed predators have not been witnessed reliably in the field. Some of those witnessed are: Gonads increase in size as the animals become sexually mature and at maturity fill the arms and extend into the disk region. The ripe ovaries and