I'm sure many of you have seen dried starfish ornaments or perhaps a beach themed bathroom and it's creative decor. I saw this very theme at a dentist office not long ago and thought how fun it would be to decorate my bathroom at home in the same way. Of course the trademark of beach theme decor is often the beautiful starfish. I knew exactly where I could purchase these dried starfish because for years I have seen them sold in stores. However, the thought dawned on me that I probably had a misconceived idea as to where these starfish come from. Originally I imagined that perhaps they were all collected from the beach after having had the misfortune of naturally being dried out when the tide receded and left them behind in the shallows of the water. I recall such an incident when I was in the Bahamas and found a large, half dried out starfish during low tide.
As I momentarily pondered about these beautiful sea creatures I thought how naive I was to not realize sooner there must be a starfish trade. With a few clicks of a button on my Mac, truth was quickly confirmed. Sadly, a huge starfish industry is alive and thriving.
STARFISH TRADE FACTS
- Live Starfish are most often, "fished" from natural habitat or farmed
- Dehydrated/Dried alive
- Bleached to remove original color and smell
- Dyed different colors
- Dried body or skeleton of starfish is used for decor, souvenirs, ornaments etc.
- Some varieties of starfish are used as food
Starfish Ornament
Starfish food
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