Echinoderms are a phylum of exclusively marine deuterostome invertebrates characterized by pentaradial symmetry in adults, a calcareous endoskeleton composed of ossicles, and a unique water vascular system that operates tube feet for locomotion, feeding, and gas exchange. Major classes include Asteroidea (sea stars), Echinoidea (sea urchins, sand dollars), Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers), Ophiuroidea (brittle stars), and Crinoidea (feather stars). They exhibit mutable collagenous tissues enabling rapid changes in body stiffness, and possess high regenerative capacity. Echinoderms are key model systems in developmental and evolutionary biology, particularly for studying deuterostome embryogenesis and larval–adult body plan transitions.
Sea star wasting disease has devastated starfish populations in North America, driving some species to the brink of extinction. New research has identified Vibrio pectenicida bacteria as the cause of the disease, offering ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 7, 2025
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In Nature Ecology & Evolution, a group of researchers reveal the cause of sea star wasting disease (SSWD). This discovery comes more than a decade after the start of the marine epidemic that has killed billions of sea stars—representing ...
Ecology
Aug 4, 2025
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Sea urchins have no brains or hearts. But put them in the proximity of the unmistakable sunflower sea star, and somewhere in their pin cushion-like body, they sense trouble. That's the main finding of a new study by ecologists ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 28, 2025
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A 500-million-year-old fossil from Morocco, discovered by Natural History Museum scientists, is offering extraordinary new insights into one of evolution's most puzzling transformations: how echinoderms, the group that includes ...
Evolution
Jun 26, 2025
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131
Sea cucumbers spend their lives prowling the ocean floor, scavenging for food and generally minding their own business. We can see snails leading similar lives, slimy but not bothering anyone.
Plants & Animals
Jun 18, 2025
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Sea cucumbers are the ocean's janitors, cleaning the seabed and recycling nutrients back into the water. But this humble marine invertebrate could also hold the key to stopping the spread of cancer.
Plants & Animals
Jun 10, 2025
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