Chapter 208 Do Snakes Eat Starfish?

Feng Yi caught a starfish.

The one he was tossing for fun had already been thrown far away, so he changed to another one and was ready to continue tossing. After thinking for a while, he still didn't swim far away.

No longer moving forward, Feng Yi simply caught the starfish to study.

He had seen this creature up close and from all angles in the small exhibition hall next to the dormitory area before, and there was an anatomical diagram of the starfish on the wall. Feng Yi was certainly not curious about its structure.

What he was interested in was whether the starfish was afraid of him.

Marine organisms mainly rely on the transmission of chemical information in seawater to search and hunt. Amino acids, nucleic acids, organic molecules, etc. that are difficult for people to see with the naked eye can all be sensed by receptors.

Changes in chemical information in the water will cause them to behave differently.

Behavior is the most direct response of animals to changes in stimuli.

Feng Yi wanted to see if this starfish would be stimulated if it felt his breath? What kind of behavior would it show?

Feng Yi did not change his body shape, but the inhuman breath passed through the diving suit and emanated with the seawater.

Through these, a close communication between "non-ordinary humans" and "marine organisms" was carried out.

Although the information molecules emitted were not strong due to the restrictions of the diving suit, the reactions of the starfish were obvious. The starfish around Feng Yi all took evasive actions and moved away from where he was.

Feng Yi was surprised.

It was really strange that this group of starfish felt this signal for the first time in their lives, but they all took the same evasive action.

Could this be the "fear engraved in DNA"?

Feng Yi looked at the starfish in his hand, and his pupils turned into vertical thin lines, which expanded due to the light, but they were still upright ovals. Completely different from normal human eyes.

There was no one else here, and his eyes could change at will.

"I really want to see what other important information is hidden in their DNA."

Feng Yi thought. Staring at the starfish in his hand, as if he wanted to explore the inside through their epidermis.

Just as he was thinking, the communicator rang.

Feng Yi came back to his senses and quickly answered it.

"Feng Yi, where are you?" asked the diver over there.

"Me? Just looking around nearby." Feng Yi looked around, unable to tell the exact location, but it wasn't too far away, right?

The two divers choked when they heard this.

What the hell, "Just look around"!

Do you have a destructive understanding of the word "nearby"? ! !

However, it's good that people are safe. They were relieved a little.

Feng Yi also realized from the diver's tone that he seemed to have exceeded the other party's acceptable range this time.

He was too excited to swim in the sea and didn't pay attention to the distance in the eyes of normal people.

But negligence is negligence.

"Sorry, I didn't notice that I ran away." Feng Yi apologized.

The diver's tone slowed down and asked: "How is it over there?"

Feng Yi said: "A lot of starfish."

"Of course, they are still gathering. You are surrounded by starfish, do you feel the atmosphere is tense?" Another diver laughed.

Feng Yi glanced around: "No, the atmosphere is quite... harmonious."

It was so harmonious that there was a space.

"In short, we get along well." Feng Yi said.

As he was talking, he felt something strange in his hand, and Feng Yi looked over.

Originally holding a large starfish in his hand, now only one arm of the starfish is left in his hand.

Feng Yi: “???”

Noticing Feng Yi’s silence, the diver on the other side asked worriedly: “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Feng Yi looked at the starfish that escaped in small steps and let go of the stump in his hand.

The diver wanted to tell Feng Yi not to go any further away, not to chase the animals in the water, it is easy to get lost, and if something happens if you run too far, it will be too late to rescue. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Feng Yi on the other side continue:

“Are you almost done over there? I’ll go back immediately.”

“There is still some work to be done, but it won’t take long, you can come back. Do you need our help?” the diver asked.

“No, I’m swimming back.”

“Don’t get lost, find the right direction,” considering the face of the young expert, the diver changed the subject, “Don’t be too anxious, safety is the most important. Keep in touch.”

“Okay.”

Over there, the two divers finished their conversation and talked about Feng Yi.

"This expert doesn't seem very reliable."

"His attitude is okay, unlike the last expert I met who yelled when he did something wrong."

"Do you think he can come back safely?"

"It's hard to say..."

Just as the words began, the positioning instrument beeped and a target light spot appeared.

Feng Yi had entered the one-kilometer range.

Seeing this, the doubts and worries in the hearts of the two divers subsided a little.

"It seems that he didn't swim too far."

"His sense of direction is pretty good, he didn't swim off the track."

When Feng Yi, who was being talked about by them, rushed back within one kilometer, his speed was greatly reduced, trying to get as close as possible to the speed that a normal human can reach.

But in the eyes of the two divers, it was still very fast!

"Is this guy a flying fish?!"

"Can his body hold up if he swims like this?"

When the two divers had almost finished their work, they thought it would take some time for Feng Yi to come back, and were about to ask the expert group whether they wanted to supplement some data, when they saw Feng Yi's figure.

"Are you okay? Take a break on the boat first." A diver said.

"No problem, shall we start setting up the net now?" Feng Yi still looked normal.

"Really?"

"No."

"Okay. If you feel any discomfort, you must tell me. Don't hold it back!"

"Understood!" Feng Yi made an OK gesture.

Seeing that Feng Yi was fine, the two divers stopped talking and began to perform their second mission in the afternoon.

Feng Yi became much more honest after he came back. He would help the divers no matter what they said.

He was so cooperative and really put in a lot of effort. The two divers no longer cared about Feng Yi running far away before.

It's normal for young people to act a little extravagantly. Anyway, it doesn't cause any trouble and they have nothing to lose. And Feng Yi also knew that he was wrong, so just pay attention next time.

Mission accomplished, the two ships returned.

There is still a lot of work to do after returning home, but there are dedicated people in charge of it, so Feng Yi will not get involved and interfere with the efficiency of others.

Everyone is still on the coast and haven't returned to the dormitory. Feng Yi doesn't want to go back immediately, but he can't sit idle. He wants to talk to someone.

Over at the expert group, Professor Ding and several others were chatting about starfish-related topics. Feng Yi listened for a while and then left voluntarily.

The areas of expertise are different and the focus is also different.

We are also talking about starfish, and several people over there are discussing body wall polysaccharides and in vitro antioxidant activity.

As for Feng Yi, he only knew whether he could eat it here and whether he could eat it there.

Not wanting to be embarrassed there, Feng Yi looked around and found Professor Li who was quietly staring at the sea and thinking about something.

In fact, this professor is not a serious type, but has a somewhat caring temperament about the country and the people.

Professor Li studies marine ecology, but he knows more about starfish than Feng Yi.

Feng Yi walked over and said, "Teacher Li."

The melancholy in Professor Li's eyes subsided, and his attitude towards Feng Yi, a junior, was calm, "What's wrong?"

Feng Yi said: "I have a question. Do snakes eat starfish?"

Surprise flashed across Professor Li's face, as if he didn't expect Feng Yi to ask such a question.

However, Professor Li patiently replied: "I won't eat it."

After a pause, Professor Li added: "Strictly speaking, I can't say for sure. Starfish live in the sea, and their growth stages include the larval stage. There may be some kind of sea snake that I don't know that will prey on them. But the adult stage Starfish, so far, I haven’t seen any snakes interested in them.”

The larvae of starfish do not look like they do now. Starfish in the larvae stage look small and weak.

Professor Li said: "Starfish have more natural enemies in their larval stage, while the number of natural enemies in the adult state is greatly reduced. Therefore, when we consider the prevention and control methods of starfish, we will also start to deal with them in their larval stage and formulate removal strategies."

Feng Yi asked: "In other words, there is no predatory relationship between snakes and adult starfish?"

Professor Li thought for a moment and said: "Whether snakes eat adult starfish can be analyzed from the perspective of snake eating. Let's not talk about toxicity. Adult starfish have flat bodies and spines, and the calcium bone plates are not very tough. , it is difficult for small snakes to swallow them, and from the perspective of energy conversion, even if a snake can swallow it, a starfish can not provide them with much energy.

"Also, my research on snakes is limited, but I have also heard that snakes have the ability to judge the head and tail of prey. When swallowing food, they will start from the head. I can't imagine how a snake can swallow a starfish and find the head. ”

Professor Li looked at Feng Yi, "So, based on all this, I surmise that no snake would be stupid enough to eat it."

Feng Yi nodded, thinking in his mind:

There is no predatory relationship between snakes and starfish, and they are not considered natural enemies of starfish.

But those starfish were afraid of me, so much so that the group stayed away.

From this we can get——

I have nothing to do with snakes!

It has nothing to do with snakes on land or in the sea!

Therefore, those starfish are only afraid of me.

Feng Yi's thoughts turned around in his mind and he said, "I saw... when someone was catching a starfish, the starfish broke one of its wrists."

Of course he wouldn't say what he did!

There are so many boats fishing for starfish recently, and people come and go, and the question is "I saw it by chance."

Professor Li had no doubts either.

"What you are talking about is the self-cutting behavior of starfish. It is a common body reaction in predatory relationships. The broken wrist will grow back later." Professor Li said.

"You mean, it felt threatened by predators, so it cut off one of its arms? It's like a gecko's tail-cutting method, sacrificing part of the body to preserve the whole." Feng Yi asked.

"Absolutely. But if they are in the sea, in addition to predators, they will also behave like this when they feel the pressure brought by the external environment, such as rising water temperature, environmental pollution, parasites or microbial infections, and other things that make them When the body is damaged, self-cut behavior will occur.”

"That's it."

Feng Yi wondered whether the starfish that cut itself in his hand was "fear engraved in DNA" or was it due to other reasons?

Is it accidental or inevitable?

It is not difficult to verify.

Catch a few more.