Students discover sunflower sea stars keep kelp-hungry urchins at bay

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Sea urchins have no brains or hearts. But put them in the proximity of the unmistakable sunflower sea star, and somewhere in their pin cushion-like body, they sense trouble. That's the main finding of a new study by ecologists and undergraduates at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who wanted to see if this particular type of sea star would deter urchins from eating kelp.