Sea stars know how to keep their cool when the weather heats up. By sucking up cold water while submerged at high tide, they can avoid overheating after the waves roll out.
Sylvain Pincebourde, now at the University of François Rabelais in Tours, France, and his colleagues exposed ochre sea stars (Pisaster ochraceus) to simulated tidal cycles and various water and ambient temperatures in laboratory aquaria. They found that the intertidal predators increase the amount of colder-than-air fluid in their internal cavity after exposure to elevated aerial temperatures during low tide. This substantially reduces the sea stars' body temperatures, as shown in the infrared image, during subsequent low tides.
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Biology: Chill out. Nature 461, 1176 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/4611176a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4611176a
