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 ...
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.
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.
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 ...
The larvae pass through several stages, which have specific names derived from the taxonomic names of the adults or from their appearance. For example, a sea urchin has an 'echinopluteus' larva while a brittle star has an 'ophiopluteus' larva. A starfish has a 'bipinnaria' larva, which develops into a multi-armed 'brachiolaria' larva. A sea ...
In their larval state, banded brittle stars are extremely small and planktonic, like other echinoderm larvae. They are barrel-like in shape. They are barrel-like in shape. Unlike many larval echinoderms, however, banded brittle star larvae subsist on yolk (making them a type of larvae referred to as vitellariae), rather than using their bands ...
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 ...