Sea bird, also known as five-pointed star or sea star. Recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica. It refers to the whole body of the sea bird Asterina pectinifera (Muller et Troschel), a species in the family Asterinidae. After capture, the internal organs are removed, cleaned, and dried.
[Processing method] 1. Sea bird: Take the original medicinal material, remove any remaining internal organs and impurities, clean, and dry.
2. Calcined sea bird: Take the cleaned sea bird, place it in a suitable container, calcine it on a smokeless stove until it becomes crispy, take it out and let it cool, then grind or crush it.
[Appearance of prepared slices] The sea bird is flat and has a pentagonal star shape. The central part is the body plate, and the upper part of the body plate, called the dorsal surface, has tile-shaped bone plates, with colors ranging from dark blue to crimson; the lower part of the axillary surface is called the oral surface, which is orange-yellow in color. The central part of the radial short arms surrounding the body plate is raised like a ridge, with sharp edges, and the ventral surface of the arms has open ambulacral grooves. Calcined sea bird is in the form of fragments or powder, purplish-brown or grayish-brown in color, with a soft and brittle texture and no luster.
[Processing effects] The sea bird has a salty and warm taste. It enters the kidney and stomach meridians. It has the functions of nourishing the kidney, regulating acidity, and dispelling wind and dampness. It is used for impotence, rheumatic pain in the lower back and legs, pain from overexertion, and acid reflux. After processing, this product removes the internal organs and impurities, making the medicine pure and facilitating dispensing and formulation. Grinding it together with small seahorse into fine powder can treat impotence (Shandong Herbal Manual). Calcination enhances its acid-regulating effect, and the texture becomes brittle, making it easy to crush and formulate, which promotes the dissolution of active ingredients and is used for stomach pain and acid reflux. For example, taking calcined sea bird powder can relieve stomach pain (Marine Medicinal Organisms in China).
