Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish are also known as asteroids due to being in the class Asteroidea. About 1,900 species of starfish live on the seabed in all the world's oceans, from warm, tropical zones to frigid, polar regions.
Crinoids are echinoderms in the phylum Echinodermata, which also includes the starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers. [5] They live in both shallow water [6] and in depths of over 9,000 metres (30,000 ft). [7] Adult crinoids are characterised by having the mouth located on the upper surface.
By repeating these actions, the brittle star can creep forward at up to 50 centimetres (20 in) per minute. Any arm or pair of arms can be in the lead. [4] Ophionereis reticulata is an herbivore and filter feeder, but detritus and fragments of polychaete worm have also been found in its stomach. [5]
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]
Amphiuridae (commonly called long-armed burrowing brittle stars [2] or burrowing brittle stars) are a large family of brittle stars of the suborder Gnathophiurina.Some species are used to study echinoderm development (e.g. Amphipholis kochii [3] and Amphioplus abditus [4]) and bioluminescence (the dwarf brittle star, Amphipholis squamata [5] [6]).
A starfish has five identical arms with a layer of “tube feet” beneath them that can help the marine creature move along the seafloor, causing naturalists to puzzle over whether sea stars have ...
The Asterozoa are a subphylum in the phylum Echinodermata, within the Eleutherozoa.Characteristics include a star-shaped body and radially divergent axes of symmetry. The subphylum includes the classes Asteroidea (the starfish or sea stars), Ophiuroidea (the brittle stars and basket stars), Somasteroidea (early asterozoans from which the other classes most likely evolved), and Stenuroidea ...