star fish

General Resources on Echinoderms

Echinoderms
Chinoderms are radially symmetrical animals that are only found in the sea (there are none on land or in fresh water). Echinoderms mean "spiny skin" in Greek. Many, but not all, echinoderms have spiny skin. There are over 6,000 species.


Echinoderms
The echinoderms are a group of animals that includes starfish, urchins, feather stars, and sea cucumbers. They are simple animals, lacking a brain and complex sensing organs.


Echinoderms-The Spiny Animals
The phylum Echinodermata , which contains about 6000 species, gets its name from the Greek, literally meaning "spiny skin."


StarFish
The star fish is like no other animal compared to eating. The starfish usually hunts for shelled animals. Like oyster, clam and other small animals. The starfish waits till it finds a yummy meal. Then it sneaks upon it , and it puts the suction cups on the shell . Then it pulls until a crack about as thick as cardboard. Then pops the stomach in the shell inside out to dissolve the yummy snack.
The starfish body is sheathed in a flexible armor of skeletal pieces, the arms are thick and equipped with suckers used for locomotion and holding prey.


Sea Stars
Sea stars are some of the most unusual creatures you can find in a tide pool. Did you know they can spit out their stomachs, "see" with their feet, grow back most of their body if damaged, and move around using water pressure? Sea stars form part of the group called Echinoderms which means "spiny skinned", and are part of the class Osteroidea which means "star like". Others in this group include brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers.If you've ever had the pleasure to go tide pooling then you already know that Starfish are the most popular creatures there -- especially among the younger crowd.


Echinoderms: Starfish and Family
Echinoderms are marine animals that live in the ocean. They have arms or spines that radiate from the center of their body. The central body contains their organs, and their mouth for feeding.


Introduction to the Asteroidea
rue starfish are classified in the Asteroidea, a group of echinoderms. Unlike the superficially similar brittle stars (Ophiuroidea), true starfish have no sharp demarcation between arms and central body, and they move using tube feet rather than wriggling movements of the whole arms.