Marine Institute of Memorial University “The Life of a Brittle Starfish” Due Date: November 3, 2000 Presented By: Joe MacDonald Student #: 961687 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 General features 1-2 2.1 Stereom 2 2.2 Water Vascular System 2 3.1 Aggregation 3 4.0 Food Procurement 3-4 4.1 Food Source 3 4.2 Predators 4 7.1 Structures of Brittle Starfish 5 7.2 Digestive System 6 7.3 Picture #1 of Brittle Starfish 6 7.4 Picture #2 of Brittle Starfish 7 The type of marine organism, which will be reported on within the following text, is the Brittle Stars. The Brittle Star is also called the serpent star and a common name for a large group of echinoderms closely related to the starfish. These organisms make up the class Ophiuroidea; another common name for ophiuroidea is snake stars. These organisms can be found in all oceans but are more abundant in the Tropics. Brittle stars can come in different colors. 2.0 General FeaturesTheir bodies have a central disk that is demarcated from five arms, unlike true starfish. Their five arms can be broken off quite easily, but will regenerate themselves. These arms are usually forked and spiny. The brittle star includes about 2000 species, and the arms are about 20 cm in length. The central disk is about 1 inch across. Unlike the traditional starfish which uses tube feet to crawl and attach itself to objects. The brittle starfish uses his tube feet to breathe and to bring food to it’s mouth, they do not use the tube feet as a suction mechanism. The brittle starfish moves their arms to swim and crawl. The brittle starfish contains a mouth on the underside of its body and their tube feet are mainly used as sense organs for detecting light and odor. The ...
