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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 ...
Starfish are included in the subphylum Asterozoa, the characteristics of which include a flattened, star-shaped body as adults consisting of a central disc and multiple radiating arms. The subphylum includes the two classes of Asteroidea, the starfish, and Ophiuroidea, the brittle stars and basket stars.
An echinoderm (/ ɪ ˈ k aɪ n ə ˌ d ɜːr m, ˈ ɛ k ə-/) [2] is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (/ ɪ ˌ k aɪ n oʊ ˈ d ɜːr m ə t ə /), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". [3]
They are found in different forms and arrangements in sea urchins, starfish, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, and crinoids. The ossicles and spines (which are specialised sharp ossicles) are the only parts of the animal likely to be fossilized after an echinoderm dies.
Ophiura ophiura is an active brittle star, moving with a jerky swimming action of its legs and sometimes burrowing. [2] It is a filter feeder, feeding on a wide range of food, [1] but also a bottom-feeding carnivore and detritivore. [7] It can regenerate its arms if they are damaged or torn off. [7] Sexual reproduction takes place during the ...
Ophiura albida is a predator and scavenger and feeds on such small invertebrates as polychaete worms, crustaceans and bivalve molluscs. [1] In the Baltic Sea it is the favourite food of the starfish Luidia sarsi and is chosen in preference to other brittle stars. [4]
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]
Ophiocomella alexandri, known as Alexander's spiny brittle star or banded brittle star, is a species of marine brittle star. It was first described to science by Theodore Lyman in 1860. [1] Lyman states in his description that the animal is named for his friend, Alexander E. R. Agassiz, the son of Lyman's mentor, Louis Agassiz.