Phylum Echinodermata

Sea stars, brittle stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers,

sand dollars
The Basics

Echinodermata
 Echinodermata means “spiny skin”
 About 7000 species – all marine
 Planktonic larvae are bilateral
 Adults are radially symmetrical
 Pentamerous – symmetry based on 5 parts
 They have an oral (mouth) side and an
aboral side
 Have an endoskeleton
 Possess a water vascular system
 Tube feet usually have suckers and are
used for attachment, locomotion, and
receiving chemical and mechanical
stimuli
The Types – Sea Stars

Echinodermata
 Most species have 5 arms that radiate
around a central disk
 Some species can have up to 50 arms
 Hundreds of tube feet cover the oral
surface
 Can move in any direction by reaching out their
tube feet and pulling themselves along
 Endoskeleton consists of interconnected
calcium carbonate plates that form a
relatively flexible framework
 Allows their arms to be somewhat flexible
 Aboral surface is often covered with spines
 Feed on bivalves, snails, barnacles, and
any other attached or slow moving animal
Ochre Sea Star Northern Pacific Sea Star Sun Star

Echinodermata – Sea Stars

Cushion Sea Star Goose Foot Sea Star Common Sea Star

Spiny Sea Star Crown of Thorns Sand Star

The Types – Brittle Stars

Echinodermata
 Have 5 arms that are long, very
flexible, and sharply defined from the
central disk
 The snake-like arms are used in
locomotion
 The tube feet (lacking suckers) are
used for feeding
 Most eat detritus and small animals
they pick up from the bottom
 Largest group of echinoderms as well
as the most widely distributed
Blunt Spined Brittle Star Banded Brittle Star

Echinodermata – Brittle Stars

Green Brittle Star Millipede Brittle Star

Heart Brittle Star Ruby Brittle Star

The Types – Sea Urchins

Echinodermata
 Endoskeleton forms a round, rigid, shell-
like test with movable spines
 Locomotion is achieved by the movable
spines, jointed to sockets in the test, and
the sucker-tipped tube feet
 Graze on seaweeds and seagrasses, but
will also ingest detritus
 Mouth has an intricate system of jaws and
muscles called Aristotle’s Lantern
 Used to bite off algae and other bits of food
from the bottom
 Found worldwide on rocky shores
 Long Spined Urchin Pencil Urchin

Echinodermata – Sea Urchins

Black Hatpin Urchin Crown Urchin

Boring Urchin Fire Urchin

The Types – Sea Urchins

Echinodermata
 Sand dollars and heart urchins are
closely related to urchins
 Flattened bodies with shortened spines,
deposit feeders
The Types – Sea Cucumbers

Echinodermata
 The animal lies on one side, where the 5 rows of
tube feet are concentrated
 The oral and aboral surfaces are at the ends
 Endoskeleton consists of microscopic, calcareous
spicules scattered through the warty, often
tough, skin
 Deposit feeders
 Tube feet around the mouth are modified into
tentacles that are used to scoop food into mouth
 Lack spines so they have other defense
mechanisms: secretion of toxic substances,
expulsion of internal organs
 Chocolate Chip Sea Cucumber

Echinodermata – Sea Cucumbers

Beaded Sea Cucumber

Sea Apple Sea Cucumber

Pink Warty Sea Cucumber

The Types - Crinoids

Echinodermata
 Suspension feeders that use outstretched,
feathery arms to obtain food from the
water
 Includes feather stars and sea lilies
 Capable of swimming
 Body plan is best described as an upside-
down brittle star with the mouth directed
upward
 Some only have 5 arms, while others may
have up to 200 arms (because of
branching of the initial 5 arms)
 Tiny tube feet secrete a mucus to aid in
catching food particles
Echinodermata - Crinoids
Digestion and Feeding

Echinodermata
 Sea stars are carnivorous and extend
their stomach inside out through the
mouth to envelop the food
 Sea urchins and sea cucumbers have
long and coiled guts
 Sea urchins need the long gut in order to
digest plant material
 Sea cucumbers need the long gut in order
to process large amounts of sediments to
obtain enough organic matter for survival
Sea Star with expelled stomach

Echinodermata
Respiration and Circulation

Echinodermata
 Have a water vascular system, which is
a system of internal tubes filled with
fluid
 Moves water, nutrients, gases, and wastes
throughout the body
 Tube feet are the main surface for
respiration (gas exchange)
Water Vascular System

Echinodermata
Excretion

Echinodermata
 Digestive wastes are released as feces
through the anus
 Nitrogen-containing cellular wastes are
excreted in the form of ammonia
 Thiswaste is passed into surround water
through the tube feet and skin
Nervous System

Echinodermata
 Very simple
 Have a nerve ring that surrounds the
mouth and radial nerves that connect the
ring with the body parts
 Do not have a brain
 Coordinates movements of tube feet and
spines
 Most have scattered sensory cells that
detect light, gravity, and chemicals
released by potential prey
 Many have the ability to turn their bodies
over after being flipped
 Sea urchins have also been known to
camouflage their bodies with debris
Echinodermata
Reproduction

Echinodermata
 Most species have separate sexes
 Mostly external fertilization through
spawning
 Developing larvae become part of the plankton
 Some sea stars, brittle stars, and sea
cucumbers regularly reproduce asexually
by the separation of the central disk/body
into two pieces
 Each piece then grows into a complete
individual
 Regeneration – the ability to regrow lost
arms and damaged body parts
Echinodermata
Echinoderms: the ultimate animal

Echinodermata
Video 14 min
 http://www.shapeoflife.org/video/ech
inoderms-ultimate-animal