Emily Dickinson Lexicon

STAR-FISH, n. [star and fish.]

A marine animal; the sea star or Asterias, a genus of pedicellate echinoderms or zoophytes, so named because their body is divided into rays, generally five in number, in the center of which and below is the mouth, which is the only orifice of the alimentary canal. They are covered with a coriaceous skin, armed with points or spines and pierced with numerous small holes, arranged in regular series, through which pass membranaceous tentacula or feelers, terminated each by a little disk or cup, by means of which they execute their progressive motions. – Cuvier.