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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.
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 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 ...
Many brittle stars are hermaphrodites; they often brood their eggs, usually in special chambers on their oral surfaces, but sometimes in the ovary or coelom. [58] In these starfish and brittle stars, development is usually direct to the adult form, without passing through a bilateral larval stage. [59]
Ophiocomina nigra, commonly known as the black brittle star or black serpent star, is a species of marine invertebrate in the order Ophiurida. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It occurs in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.
Ophiothrix suensoni, Suenson's brittle star or the sponge brittle star, is a species of marine invertebrate in the order Ophiurida. It is found in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. It is included in the subgenus Acanthophiothrix making its full scientific name Ophiothrix (Acanthophiothrix) suensoni. [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] 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.