--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Dark gray, flexible, and infinitely…" description: "\"“Dark gray, flexible, and infinitely tough. Seven-foot membranous wings of same color, found folded, spread out of furrows between ridges. Wing framewo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83c/anonymous-1_starfish_dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough_2534994.jpg" --- # Dark gray, flexible, and infinitely tough. Seven-foot… ![“Dark gray, flexible, and infinitely tough. Seven-foot membranous wings of same color, found folded, spread out of furrows between ridges. Wing framework tubular or glandular, of lighter gray, with orifices at wing tips. Spread wings have serrated edge. Around equator, one at central apex of each…” quote by Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83c/anonymous-1_starfish_dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough_2534994.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83c/anonymous-1_starfish_dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough_2534994.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83c/anonymous-1_starfish_dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough_2534994.jpg) > ““Dark gray, flexible, and infinitely tough. Seven-foot membranous wings of same color, found folded, spread out of furrows between ridges. Wing framework tubular or glandular, of lighter gray, with orifices at wing tips. Spread wings have serrated edge. Around equator, one at central apex of each of the five vertical, stave-like ridges are five systems of light gray flexible arms or tentacles found tightly folded to torso but expansible to maximum length of over three feet. Like arms of primitive crinoid. Single stalks three inches diameter branch after six inches into five substalks, each of which branches after eight inches into small, tapering tentacles or tendrils, giving each stalk a total of twenty-five tentacles. At top of torso blunt, bulbous neck of lighter gray, with gill-like suggestions, holds yellowish five-pointed starfish-shaped apparent head covered with three-inch wiry cilia of various prismatic colors. Head thick and puffy, about two feet point to point, with three-inch flexible yellowish tubes projecting from each point. Slit in exact center of top probably breathing aperture. At end of each tube is spherical expansion where yellowish membrane rolls back on handling to reveal glassy, red-irised globe, evidently an eye. Five slightly longer reddish tubes start from inner angles of starfish-shaped head and end in saclike swellings of same color which, upon pressure, open to bell-shaped orifices two inches maximum diameter and lined with sharp, white tooth like projections - probably mouths. All these tubes, cilia, and points of starfish head, found folded tightly down; tubes and points clinging to bulbous neck and torso. Flexibility surprising despite vast toughness. At bottom of torso, rough but dissimilarly functioning counterparts of head arrangements exist. Bulbous light-gray pseudo-neck, without gill suggestions, holds greenish five-pointed starfish arrangement. Tough, muscular arms four feet long and tapering from seven inches diameter at base to about two and five-tenths at point. To each point is attached small end of a greenish five-veined membranous triangle eight inches long and six wide at farther end. This is the paddle, fin, or pseudofoot which has made prints in rocks from a thousand million to fifty or sixty million years old. From inner angles of starfish-arrangement project two-foot reddish tubes tapering from three inches diameter at base to one at tip. Orifices at tips. All these parts infinitely tough and leathery, but extremely flexible. Four-foot arms with paddles undoubtedly used for locomotion of some sort, marine or otherwise. When moved, display suggestions of exaggerated muscularity. As found, all these projections tightly folded over pseudoneck and end of torso, corresponding to projections at other end.”” [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The organism is a complex, flexible, multi‑armed marine creature with star‑shaped head and numerous tentacle‑like structures, adapted for both protection and feeding. **In simple terms:** A flexible, many‑armed sea creature with a star‑shaped head. Key Takeaway Study its unique anatomy for bio‑inspired designs. Themes biology marine life adaptation Mood curious intrigued Type scientific educational When to use this quote - marine research - biomimicry - educational exhibits Key Concepts morphology defense mechanisms feeding strategies Questions to Reflect On - What environments might it inhabit? - How could its design inspire technology? A Different Perspective Limited data hampers full understanding. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Starfish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/starfish/) ## Related quotes > [Indeed Christianity passes. Passes - it has gone! It has littered the beaches of life with churches, cathedrals, shrines and crucifixes, prejudices and intolerances,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/indeed-christianity-passes-passes-it-has-gone-it-has-littered-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [But it is just two lovers, holding hands and in a hurry to reach their car, their locked hands a starfish leaping through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-it-is-just-two-lovers-holding-hands-and-in-a-hurry-to-reach-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [This is what life does. It lets you walk up to the store to buy breakfast and the paper, on a stiff knee. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-lerman/this-is-what-life-does-it-lets-you-walk-up-to-the-store-to-buy/) Eleanor Lerman > [It goes back to the starfish. That's when the light bulb really popped over my head. 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These clothes are the only thing holding me together; when I'm nude, my body shoots off in all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-hotz/i-am-not-an-attractive-man-these-clothes-are-the-only-thing-holding/) [Jeremy Hotz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-hotz/) > [“He remembered a story he’d once heard about a girl throwing starfish into the ocean. “An old man comes along and says to her,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bo-burlingham/he-remembered-a-story-he-d-once-heard-about-a-girl-throwing-starfish/) Bo Burlingham > [“Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-wise-man-who-used-to-go-to-the-ocean-to/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [“Pen realized it: Sometimes there is nothing to do but surrender yourself to wonder... You must stop measuring - over and over - the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marisa-de-los-santos/pen-realized-it-sometimes-there-is-nothing-to-do-but-surrender/) [Marisa de los Santos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marisa-de-los-santos/) > [Her fingers moved among barnacles and mussels, blue-black, sharp-edged. Neon red starfish were limp Dalis on the rocks, surrounded by bouquets of stinging anemones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/her-fingers-moved-among-barnacles-and-mussels-blue-black-sharp-edged/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“Doc was collecting marine animals in the Great Tide Pool on the tip of the Peninsula. It is a fabulous place: when the tide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/doc-was-collecting-marine-animals-in-the-great-tide-pool-on-the-tip/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [If the sea is sick, we'll feel it. If it dies, we die. Our future and the state of the oceans are one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-earle/if-the-sea-is-sick-we-ll-feel-it-if-it-dies-we-die-our-future-and-the/) [Sylvia Earle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-earle/) > [“Is that my foot? Silly me, it's a starfish”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/petra-mathers/is-that-my-foot-silly-me-it-s-a-starfish/) Petra Mathers > [“She shielded her eyes from the sun, her truck keys dangling down the back of her free hand, as Cooper lowered the passenger window…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-kauffman/she-shielded-her-eyes-from-the-sun-her-truck-keys-dangling-down-the/) [Donna Kauffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-kauffman/) ## More by Anonymous > [And a tear rolled down her cheek, as she said goodbye; because she's walking away, and she's never looking back](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-a-tear-rolled-down-her-cheek-as-she-said-goodbye-because-she-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You'll seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-ll-seldom-experience-regret-for-anything-that-you-ve-done-it-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Scrabble - The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/scrabble-the-game-is-available-in-braille-that-s-a-nice-fact-this/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Everyone needs someone to love, and I choose you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/everyone-needs-someone-to-love-and-i-choose-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Put on my J's and dance the whole night away Im naughty by nature like Im hip-hop hooray With my hands in the sky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/put-on-my-j-s-and-dance-the-whole-night-away-im-naughty-by-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Me.. I have been through a lot, but I still manage to have a smile on my face. Im not worried about the past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/me-i-have-been-through-a-lot-but-i-still-manage-to-have-a-smile-on-my/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Distance is a test of love. many will fail for those who can't withstand it, but for those who can, theres only one answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/distance-is-a-test-of-love-many-will-fail-for-those-who-can-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Im sorry I ever tried...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/im-sorry-i-ever-tried/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Being betrayed by the one you love is the worst feeling in the world...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/being-betrayed-by-the-one-you-love-is-the-worst-feeling-in-the-world/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Let children support their parents or be imprisoned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-children-support-their-parents-or-be-imprisoned/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The only person I've ever purposely caused pain here is myself...By simply sharing, caring too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-only-person-i-ve-ever-purposely-caused-pain-here-is-myself-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Start a business, not a startup”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/start-a-business-not-a-startup/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-of-course-that-the-curtness-of-the-ten-commandments-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Explore all 162,899 Anonymous quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More Starfish quotes > [“She shielded her eyes from the sun, her truck keys dangling down the back of her free hand, as Cooper lowered the passenger window…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-kauffman/she-shielded-her-eyes-from-the-sun-her-truck-keys-dangling-down-the/) [Donna Kauffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-kauffman/) > [“Is that my foot? Silly me, it's a starfish”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/petra-mathers/is-that-my-foot-silly-me-it-s-a-starfish/) Petra Mathers > [If the sea is sick, we'll feel it. If it dies, we die. Our future and the state of the oceans are one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-earle/if-the-sea-is-sick-we-ll-feel-it-if-it-dies-we-die-our-future-and-the/) [Sylvia Earle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-earle/) > [“Doc was collecting marine animals in the Great Tide Pool on the tip of the Peninsula. It is a fabulous place: when the tide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/doc-was-collecting-marine-animals-in-the-great-tide-pool-on-the-tip/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [But it is just two lovers, holding hands and in a hurry to reach their car, their locked hands a starfish leaping through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-it-is-just-two-lovers-holding-hands-and-in-a-hurry-to-reach-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Her fingers moved among barnacles and mussels, blue-black, sharp-edged. Neon red starfish were limp Dalis on the rocks, surrounded by bouquets of stinging anemones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/her-fingers-moved-among-barnacles-and-mussels-blue-black-sharp-edged/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“Pen realized it: Sometimes there is nothing to do but surrender yourself to wonder... You must stop measuring - over and over - the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marisa-de-los-santos/pen-realized-it-sometimes-there-is-nothing-to-do-but-surrender/) [Marisa de los Santos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marisa-de-los-santos/) > [“Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loren-eiseley/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-wise-man-who-used-to-go-to-the-ocean-to/) [Loren Eiseley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loren-eiseley/) > [“He remembered a story he’d once heard about a girl throwing starfish into the ocean. “An old man comes along and says to her,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bo-burlingham/he-remembered-a-story-he-d-once-heard-about-a-girl-throwing-starfish/) Bo Burlingham > [I am not an attractive man. These clothes are the only thing holding me together; when I'm nude, my body shoots off in all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-hotz/i-am-not-an-attractive-man-these-clothes-are-the-only-thing-holding/) [Jeremy Hotz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-hotz/) > [“Look down and you may miss a shooting star in the sky. Look up and you may miss a starfish in the sand. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/look-down-and-you-may-miss-a-shooting-star-in-the-sky-look-up-and-you/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [People sometimes try to score debating points by saying, Evolution is only a theory. That is correct, but it's important to understand what that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/people-sometimes-try-to-score-debating-points-by-saying-evolution-is/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [It goes back to the starfish. That's when the light bulb really popped over my head. We'd found one on the beach, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-sagan/it-goes-back-to-the-starfish-that-s-when-the-light-bulb-really-popped/) [Nick Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-sagan/) > [This is what life does. It lets you walk up to the store to buy breakfast and the paper, on a stiff knee. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-lerman/this-is-what-life-does-it-lets-you-walk-up-to-the-store-to-buy/) Eleanor Lerman > [Maybe a story will cheer you up... Once there was an ugly barnacle. He was so ugly that everyone died. The End.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-star/maybe-a-story-will-cheer-you-up-once-there-was-an-ugly-barnacle-he/) [Patrick Star](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-star/) [Browse all 41 Starfish quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/starfish/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Dark gray, flexible, and infinitely tough. Seven-foot membranous wings of same color, found folded, spread out of furrows between ridges. Wing framework tubular or glandular, of lighter gray, with orifices at wing tips. Spread wings have serrated edge. Around equator, one at central apex of each of the five vertical, stave-like ridges are five systems of light gray flexible arms or tentacles found tightly folded to torso but expansible to maximum length of over three feet. Like arms of primitive crinoid. Single stalks three inches diameter branch after six inches into five substalks, each of which branches after eight inches into small, tapering tentacles or tendrils, giving each stalk a total of twenty-five tentacles. At top of torso blunt, bulbous neck of lighter gray, with gill-like suggestions, holds yellowish five-pointed starfish-shaped apparent head covered with three-inch wiry cilia of various prismatic colors. Head thick and puffy, about two feet point to point, with three-inch flexible yellowish tubes projecting from each point. Slit in exact center of top probably breathing aperture. At end of each tube is spherical expansion where yellowish membrane rolls back on handling to reveal glassy, red-irised globe, evidently an eye. Five slightly longer reddish tubes start from inner angles of starfish-shaped head and end in saclike swellings of same color which, upon pressure, open to bell-shaped orifices two inches maximum diameter and lined with sharp, white tooth like projections - probably mouths. All these tubes, cilia, and points of starfish head, found folded tightly down; tubes and points clinging to bulbous neck and torso. Flexibility surprising despite vast toughness. At bottom of torso, rough but dissimilarly functioning counterparts of head arrangements exist. Bulbous light-gray pseudo-neck, without gill suggestions, holds greenish five-pointed starfish arrangement. Tough, muscular arms four feet long and tapering from seven inches diameter at base to about two and five-tenths at point. To each point is attached small end of a greenish five-veined membranous triangle eight inches long and six wide at farther end. This is the paddle, fin, or pseudofoot which has made prints in rocks from a thousand million to fifty or sixty million years old. From inner angles of starfish-arrangement project two-foot reddish tubes tapering from three inches diameter at base to one at tip. Orifices at tips. All these parts infinitely tough and leathery, but extremely flexible. Four-foot arms with paddles undoubtedly used for locomotion of some sort, marine or otherwise. When moved, display suggestions of exaggerated muscularity. As found, all these projections tightly folded over pseudoneck and end of torso, corresponding to projections at other end.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anonymous" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough-seven-foot-membranous-wings/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Starfish" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough-seven-foot-membranous-wings/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83c/anonymous-1_starfish_dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough_2534994.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83c/anonymous-1_starfish_dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough_2534994.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/83c/anonymous-1_starfish_dark-gray-flexible-and-infinitely-tough_2534994.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Dark gray, flexible, and infinitely tough. 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