1. Phylum Echinodermata By: Anna Grace Watkins

2. Ehinoderm Characteristics: • Approximately 6,000 species. • Moves by means of hundreds of hydraulic , suction cup-tipped appendages and have skin covered with tiny, jaw-like pinchers. • Echinoderms are found in all the oceans of the world. • They have endoskeletons. • They have long, tapering arms that are called rays. • They are also radial symmetrical. • Also have a simple nervous system. • They have no head or brain, but do have a central nerve ring that surrounds the mouth. • They have cells that detect light and touch, but most do not have sensory oragns. • Echinoderms have a water vascular system that enables them to: • Move • Exchange Gases • Capture food • Excrete Wastes

3. Class Asteroidea: • More than 1/3 of the 6,000 species of Echinoderms belong to this phylum. • Sea stars belong to this class. • Endoskeleton • Pedicellariae • Madreporite • Tube Feet • Anus • Stomach • Tube Feet • Eyespots • Most have 5 rays, but some have more. • Some even have more than 40 rays.

4. Sea Star Pictures:

5. Class Ophiuroidea: • “Brittle Stars” • They are extremely fragile. • Brittle Stars do not use their tube feet for locomotion, but instead they use them to propel themselves with the snakelike, slithering motion. • Their body parts break easily but grow back with regeneration. • They also use them to pass particles of food along rays and into the mouth in the central disk. • This adaptation is an advantage because it helps them survive attacks by keeping the predator busy with the broken piece.

6. Brittle Star Pictures:

7. Class Crinoidea: • “Sea Lilies & Feather Stars” • They resemble plants in some ways. • Sea Lilies are the only sessile echinoderms. • Feather stars are sessile only in larval form. • They use their feathery rays to capture downward drifting organic particles.

8. Sea Lilies & Feather Star Pictures:

9. Class Holothuroidea: • “Sea Cucumber” • Vegetable-like appearance! • They reproduce by shedding eggs and sperm into the water, where fertilization occurs! • They have a leathery covering that allows them to be more flexible than others. • When harmed they may: expel a tangled, sticky mass of tubes through the anus, or release some internal organs that are regenerated in a few weeks. • These really confuse their predators so therefore they can make a quick escape. They trap organic particles by sweeping their mucus-covered tentacles over the ocean bottom.

10. Sea Cucumbers Pictures:

11. Class Echinoidea: • “Sea Urchins & Sand Dollars” • Globe- or disk-shaped animals covered pointed spines. • Its spine protects it from predators. • They have long, slender tube feet that, along with the spines, aid the animal in locomotion. • The spines also aid in locomotion and in burrowing. • Sea Urchins often burrow into rocks to protect themselves from predators and rough water. • Sand dollars burrow into the sandy ocean bottom. • They feed on tiny organic particles found in the sand.

12. Sea Urchins & Sand Dollar Pictures:

13. The End!