Phylum

Echinodermata
Introduction
 Echinodermata are all marine,
triploblastic unsegmented
coelomates
 Phylum has 3 unique features:
 pentagonal symmetry (bilateral in
larvae)
 calcite spicules embedded in the
skin, often partly fused
 Tube feet (podia)
Affinities
 The only connected phylum is
our own, the chordates - based
on embryological evidence.
An unhurried phylum..
 No echinoderm moves fast, apart
from a very few deep sea
holothurids which swim actively
 Crinoids are sessile, the others
crawl at a rate of mm / minute
 During one Antarctic marine survey
a starfish was tagged. A year later
the same animal was in the same
exact spot, having apparently done
nothing at all!
Anatomical basics:
 There is no cephalization
 There is a meaningful gradient in
all echinoderm bodies: one surface
has the mouth and tube feet
(ORAL or AMBULACRAL), while
one does not (ABORAL)
 The anus is often, but not always,
aboral.
Originally…
 The ancestral echinoderm was a
sessile filter-feeder, extending its
oral surface upwards to capture
food
 This sedentary design has evolved
into motile forms where the feeding
surface faces downwards
Functional groups 1:
nerves
 Echinoderms have a diffuse
nervous system with no “brain”
 There is a 5-radial circum-oral
nerve ring, and a superficial net
running close to ectoderm
Hydraulics
 These are far more complex than
the nervous system!
 Main hydraulic systems are
derived from the coelom, although
separate sections of the coelom
also surround viscera
 The podia are operated by a
hydraulic system called the water-
vascular system
5-radial layout
 Many organ systems in the
echinoderms follow the same basic
structure as the water-vascular and
nervous systems: a 5-radial circum-
oral ring
 These rings give rise to 5 radial
branches (canals in the case of the
WVS)
 A few asteroids have 7, 10, 11 arms -
in which case 7,10, 11 radial branches
Hydraulics, contd.
 Each radial canal of the WVS
supplies water to tube feet, each
with its ampulla
 There is one asymmetric
element: a single tube (the
“stone canal”) running from the
oral WVS ring to the outside via
the madreporite
Surface features
 Echinoderm skin has several
distinctive sets of organs
protruding from their skin:
 Tube feet (podia)
 Spines
 Pedicillaria
Tube feet..
 Podia are not scattered haphazardly
over the body surface
 They lie in 10 rows (5 pairs), the
ambulacral grooves
 Each tube foot + its ampulla is isolated
from the WVS by a valve
 Tube feet vary - starfish have muscular
suction cups, other forms have sticky
tips.
 Crinoids are different - primitive
Tube feet..
 Originally began as outgrowths of
the WVS. In crinoids and
ophiuroids these remain essentially
as tentacles.
 In other radiations, notably
asteroids, these have evolved a
highly specialised suction cup used
for locomotion and prey capture.
Tube feet..
 Have retractor muscles and can
bend, but no extensors
 To extend, muscles around the
ampulla contract
 Each podium has a nervous arc to
its branch of the hyponeural
system
Role of WVS
 Hydraulics
 Respiration - O2 is exchanged
between ampulla and perivisceral
coelomic fluid
 Probably (?) this was the ancestral
function of the WVS, with tubes +
podia lining arms to exploit ciliary
current already used in food
collection
Pedicillaria
 …Are defensive organs, assumed
to protect against encrusting
organisms
 Are active, independent local
effector units able to inject toxins
on contact
Madreporite
 Allows pressure equalization and
top up water supply to the WVS
 Is absent in crinoids
Gonads
 Lie as 10 (2N) paired structures
at the base of ambulacral
grooves.
 Sexes are separate, and
discharge gametes into the sea
water
 Gonads can be large - echinoid
gonads almost fill the test, and
can be eaten as a delicacy.
Phylum Echinodermata
Living forms only

Ophiuroidea
Brittlestars

Crinoidea
Crinoids - feather stars

Echinoidea
Sea urchins

Asteroidea
starfish

Holothuridea
sea cucumbers

Concentricycloidea
Sadly...
 Of the 13 classes of echinoderms
known, 7 are extinct.
 Echinoderms were dominant forms
in Carboniferous seas, but have
suffered a long-term decline in
phyletic richness
Crinoidea
 Feather stars & Sea lilies
 Abyssal filter feeders
 5000 fossil spp, 620 living
Crinoidea
 Body made of ossicles
 10 arms have podia (no ampullae)
feeding particles to the mouth.
 Arms can move
 Mouth and anus are both on oral
side (!)
Asteroidea
 “Starfish”
 Active predators
 feed on bivalves
 use suction cups to pull open the
shells with forces of up to 5kg
 The stomach is eversible, and can be
partially inserted inside prey’s shell
(enzymes but no toxins)
Echinoidea
 Recipe: take a starfish and roll
its 5 arms together into a ball,
then fuse and calcify with an
external armor
 The armor is called the test
 Very small aboral surface
Echinoidea
 Herbivores, preferring macro-algae
 They can be highly effective grazers,
creating “urchin barrens” devoid of
algae
 The mouthparts are unique, known as
Aristotle’s Lantern.
 5 continually growing chisel teeth
 Each tooth with 8 supporting skeletal
pieces
Irregulars
 All are sand burrowing
 Heart urchin Echinocardium has no
lantern;
 Sand-dollars (Clypeaster) are more
flattened with a lantern
Noli tangere
 Many echinoids have wickedly
sharp spines, which break off in
your skin.
 Only a few fish, trigger fish
attack long-spined species
 Spines are under muscular
control, and can be used to
move
Noli tangere
 Very few echinoids are lethal to
touch - their pedicillaria inject a
neurotoxin
 Toxopneustes is feared by pearl
divers
Ophiuridae - brittle stars
 Have arms sharply demarcated
from the body disc.
 The internal structure of the arms
involves interlocking internal
ossicles, confusingly called
vertebrae
 Are primarily detrital or filter
feeders, raising their arms in a
current to capture particulates
Holothuridae- Sea
Cucumbers
 They have no calcitic skeleton, except
for spicules embedded in a leathery skin
 Most are immobile, and lie on the sea
bed rolling back and forth with the swell.
Some have limited mobility using their
tube feet.
 Despite retaining 5-radiate anatomy,
they have re-evolved bilateral symmetry
along their long axis (the oral-aboral)
Holothuridae
 They mainly feed on detritus
 Oxygen exchange is performed
using gills inside their anus
 They have 2 odd defensive
strategies:
 Squirting a sticky goo
 Voiding their entire intestines