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Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (from Latin ophiurus 'brittle star'; from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis) 'serpent' and οὐρά (ourá) 'tail'; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms ...
This brittle star has a circum-boreal distribution. In the northern Atlantic Ocean it is common around Iceland, Spitzbergen and Norway southwards to the North Sea.On the eastern coast of North America its range extends from Greenland southwards to Long Island, and in the Pacific Ocean, its range stretches from Japan and the Bering Sea southwards to California. [3]
The larva of a Schayer’s brittle star is bilaterally symmetrical, with a ciliated band around the body. The next developmental form is a vitellaria larva, bordered by ciliary ridges. The vitellaria larva soon develops juvenile tube feet and ventral skeletal plates.
This brittle star usually spawns between May and January. Each individual is thought to spawn just once during each breeding season. A week after spawning, the planktonic larvae appear in the water column. They metamorphose into young brittle stars which drift in the plankton for about three weeks before settling. The smallest brittle stars ...
When brittle stars sexually reproduce, their fertilized eggs float in the water and eventually develop into larvae. Ophioplutei feed on plankton. Brittle star larvae are small and mostly clear. These larvae then go through metamorphosis, this is the stage where they develop their five arms. These young brittle stars then move on to the settling ...
In sexual reproduction, they engage in broadcast spawning, which is releasing eggs and sperm in the water where external fertilization occurs. The fertilized egg turns into planktonic larvae that drift before settling on the ocean floor; then, they mature into adult brittle stars. During asexual reproduction, they reproduce through regeneration.
The banded brittle star utilizes different methods of feeding depending on the size of a given food particle; if the particle is relatively large, the brittle star grasps it with the tip of its arm and coils its arm to bring it to the mouth, whereas if the particle is relatively small it uses its elongate tube feet to transport food to its mouth.
In the Irish Sea it is eaten along with the common brittle star (Ophiothrix fragilis) by the fast-moving seven armed starfish (Luidia ciliaris). [5] Individuals of this species are either male or female. Fertilisation is external and the larvae are planktonic. It is a fast-growing brittle star and is not thought to live for more than three ...