Live Invertebrates >> Echinoderms

Echinoderms (Phylum Echinodermata, from the Greek for spiny skin) are a phylum of marine animals found at all depths.

This phylum appeared in the early Cambrian Period and contains about 7,000 living species and 13,000 extinct ones. Five or six classes (six counting Concentricycloidea) are alive today:

• Asteroidea (asteroids, starfish, or sea stars): about 1,500 species that capture prey for their own food.
• Concentricycloidea (sea daisies), notable for their unique water vascular system; two species; recently merged into Asteroidea.
• Crinoidea (crinoids, feather stars or sea lilies): about 600 species that are suspension feeders.
• Echinoidea (echinoids, sea urchins and sand dollars): notable for their movable spines; about 1,000 species.
• Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers): elongated animals resembling slugs; about 1,000 species.
• Ophiuroidea (brittle stars and basket stars), the physically largest of echinoderms; about 1,500 species