Echinoderm lab

Victoria Liu& Marine Bramat

Purpose
The objective of this laboratory is to determine the effect of mass and diameter of green sea
urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis) and common sea star (Asterias sp.) on their rate
of flipping.

Hypothesis
The greater the mass and diameter of Green sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis)
and common sea star (Asterias sp.) are, the less righting time it requires. Our hypothesis
derives from the reasoning that larger echinoderms have stronger tube feet adhesion strength,
therefore it will be easier to flip and attach with the substratum.

Materials
 Petri dishes of different sizes (small, medium and large)
 Sea water 
 Timer 
 Ruler
 Scale 
 6 common sea stars (Asterias sp.): 2 small, 2 medium and 2 large
 6 sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis): 2 small, 2 medium and 2 large

Observation
Data table #1

The Effect of Mass and Diameter on common sea star (Asterias sp.)’s rate of flipping

Size Trial Mass Diameter Time to flip Average time

(g) ± 0.01 (cm) ± 0.5 over (s) (s)

Small 1 1 5.10 5.5 38.44 44.04

2 5.10 5.5 49.64
Small 2 1 2.21 4.3 102.52 72.98
2 2.21 4.3 43.43
Medium 1 1 33.80 10.0 169.25 203.10
2 33.80 10.0 236.88
Medium 2 1 36.20 12.0 127.04 245.32
2 36.20 12.0 363.59
Large 1 1 217.47i 15.0 255.58 263.83
2 217.47 15.0 272.07
Large 2 1 221.10 20.0 183.27 206.80
2 221.10 20.0 230.33
Data table #2

The effect of Mass and Diameter on sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis)’s rate of flipping

Size Trial Mass Diameter Time to Average time (s)

(g) ± 0.01 (cm) ± 0.5 flip over
(s)
Small 1 1 4.51 4.7 95.49 70.79
2 4.51 4.7 46.08
Small 2 1 8.80 5.0 101.42 152.36
2 8.80 5.0 203.29
Medium 1 1 34.10 7.0 177.55 155.49
2 34.10 7.0 133.41
Medium 2 1 22.88 7.3 54.39 78.56
2 22.88 7.3 102.73
Medium 3 1 42.50 6.0 147.08 166.55
2 42.50 6.0 186.02
Large 1 1 79.57 9.0 165.59 123.59
2 79.57 9.0 81.59
Large 3 1 158.36 10.0 100.88 141.40
2 158.36 10.0 181.92

Sea-star’s righting response

When sea stars(Asterias sp.) are placed with their aboral surface on the substratum, they
respond by using the tube feets to right themselves. This process begins by first extending the
tube feet at the tips of each arm. The small sea-star’s tube feet tend to move with faster
circulation. Whereas, for the medium or large, their tube feet moved much slower.
Subsequently, the lowering action allows one arm to come in contact with the substratum.
Lastly, once one arm’s contact was made, the starts to slowly bring over the other arms.

Sea urchin’s righting response

The sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis) also rely on the tube feet for their
righting response. When they are placed with their aboral surface on the substratum, they
respond by first turning their spines from the top. Then, their tube feet would be extended
from the body- in attempt to attach to the substratum. This process is gradual and slow.
Similar to sea star, small urchins shows more active tube feet movement, compared to large.
Once more and more tube feets are extended and connected to the substratum, it has enough
strength in enabling the sea urchin to flip over. During this experiment, the sea
urchins(Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis) were placed near vertical surfaces. They prefer
to flip over by attaching to the surfaces.
Analysis
Graphs

Common sea-star (Asterias sp.)

The effect of mass on common seastar (Asterias sp.)’s rate of flipping

300

250
Righting response(s)

200

150

100

50

0
0 50 100 150 200 250

Mass (g)

The effect of diameter on common seastar (Asterias sp.)'s rate of flipping

300

250
Righting response (s)

200

150

100

50

0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

Diameter (cm)
Sea Urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis)

The effect of Mass on sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis)’s

rate of flipping

180
160
140
Righting response(s)

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Mass (g)

The effect of diameter on sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis)’s

rate of flipping

180

160

140
Righting response (s)

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Diameter (cm)
Analysis

When Echinoderm’s aboral sides are placed on the substratum, they become more vulnerable
to desiccation and predation (Burdi, 2012). Therefore, it is crucial for the organisms to have
the ability to right themselves quickly (Burdi, 2012). Tube feet is controlled by the muscle.
By being able to retract or bend, it allows echinoderm to be flexible for locomotion and
righting response (Burdi, 2012).

In this experiment, Sea star (Asterias sp.) and sea urchin’s diameter and mass were
measured to determine the correlation between size and righting time. Based on the data
collected, all 4 graphs show a positive correlation in the polynomial trendline. Individuals
with larger mass or diameter were found with a significant increase in righting time. Larger
sea star (Asterias sp.) in body size (mass and diameter) shows a range of 219.79 seconds
increase, compared to small. Large sea urchin in body size (mass and diameter) shows a
range of increase 95.76 seconds increase, compared to small.
The reason for the righting time’s increase from body size is due to the following
factors:
Mass’s effects on righting time

1. Change in surface area to volume ratio as individuals increase in size (Challener,

McClintock, 2017)

This is examining the relationship between the area of muscle and body mass, as
individual increase in size (Challener, McClintock, 2017). The larger the individual is, the
more mass per cross-sectional area of muscle it needs to move (Challener, McClintock,
2017). Therefore, there are more efforts needed to put in when the echinoderm rights
itself, which takes longer period of time.

- For sea stars(Asterias sp.), the initial process of raising and flipping one arm to
lead the whole body to turn requires significant amount of time.

Diameter’s effect on righting time

2. Sea urchin’s ratio of spine length and Sea star (Asterias sp.)’s ratio of arm length

The diameter of sea urchin and sea star changes as it grows. Based on the study
conducted by Bellarmine university, spine and arm length’s: urchin and sea star’s
diameter were significantly negatively correlated with size (Spearman’s rank cor-
relation, p < 0.0001, n = 288). It indicates that larger urchins have smaller spines and
larger sea stars have shorter arms. Therefore, sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus
droebachiensis) and sea stars with longer spine or longer arm are more efficient at
righting. This explains another reason that larger individuals require longer righting
time.

Conclusion
This laboratory met the purpose in determining the effect of mass and diameter of green sea
urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis) and common sea star (Asterias sp.) on their rate
of flipping. Based on the data, the conclusion is that the greater the echinoderm’s body size
is, the longer it requires to right itself, which proves the hypothesis to be invalid. The cause
for righting time’s increase from body size is due to the increased of mass relative to the
surface area and the reduced spine length and arm length exhibited in larger echinoderms.

Evaluation
In the graphs presented, they all show a polynomial relationship. The curve gives the
indication that the medium mass/diameter requires the longest righting time. However, based
on the expectation, the greater the body size is, the longer righting time it takes; it should
present a linear graph. Therefore, this proves an error presented in the data, which can be
caused by the following factors:
- One, the sea star and sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis) were
repeatedly used for hundreds of trial by experimenters. The echinoderm’s constant
flipping cause great loss of energy, which make them extremely fatigue. During
the trial, it was required to switch some of the sea urchin’s, because their
exhaustion lead them to not extend their tube feets out, with no attempt to right
themselves. As a result, the righting time collected is not as accurate as testing
energized echinoderm.
- Two, this experiment aims to compare the effect of echinoderm’s body size from
small, medium and large on their righting time. However, the values collected
shows significant variation, because there are no definition in limiting the range of
mass and diameter constituting each category from small to large.
- Three, for the sea urchins (Stronglylocentrotus droebachiensis) and sea stars
(Asterias sp.), there are only 6 trials carried out for each. Mass ranging from 50-
150g tested for the righting time are not present. This is another significant reason
for producing a polynomial graph, rather than a linear trend as expected, as there
weren’t sufficient amount of data
To improve the accuracy of this experiment, each echinoderms should only be tested no more
than 3-5 times to avoid fatigue. There should be a set limit of the echinoderm’s mass and
diameter that constitutes small, medium or large. There should also be more trials carried out
to improve the accuracy.
 Bibliography

Burdi, C. (2012). Testing the Righting Response of Eight Different Asteroid Species on Two Different

Substrata. Retrieved November 17, 2019, from

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/192d/9294ddf3abb8742b982a3ccc5ebaec5b7bf7.pdf .

McClintock, J. B., & Challener, R. C. (2017, February 21). In situ measurements of righting behavior in

the common sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. Retrieved November 17, 2019, from

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/34a6/7b26ce2ec96bbb77e34ad5dee81a8c6db818 .pdf?

_ga=2.57032937.2102832259.1573996207-1358929256.1573996207.