“Phylum Echinodermata”

A presentation compiled
from various sources by

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA,

Zoology Dept. Bhavan’s College, Andheri.
Sites from which presentations have been downloaded and later editted.
I am indeed thankful to them for their kindness and support :
http://esg-www.mit.edu:8001/esgbio/cb/org/organelles.html
http://faculty.pnc.edu/jcamp/parasit/parasit.html
http://www.amnh.org/rose/hope/creatinghope/
http://www.biology.eku.edu/SCHUSTER/bio%20141/POWERPOINT
%20NOTES/Intro%20to%20Protozoa_files/fullscreen.htm
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~zoology/eeob405/
http://www.tulane.edu/~wiser/protozoology/pwpt/
http://www.iep.water.ca.gov/suisun/photos/wildlife.html
http://www.uta.edu/biology/marshall/2343/
http://www.uta.edu/biology/faculty/faculty.html
http://www.okc.cc.ok.us/biologylabs/Documents/Zoology/PowerPoint.htm
http://bio.fsu.edu/
http://www.aw-bc.com/
http://www.nhm.org/
http://www.geo.cornell.edu/eas/education/course/descr/EAS302/presentations/

It is very easy to find mistakes in these presentations…..I request you to kindly

rectify them and supply me the modifications needed at parvishpandya@yahoo.com
Thanks a lot and have fun in teaching & learning Zoology….
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
General Characteristics

• Adults exhibit pentamerous radial symmetry

• Radially symmetry is secondary; larvae are bilaterally symmetrical and
undergo metamorphosis to become radially symmetrical adults.

Echinoderm larva

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General Characteristics cont.

•Poorly ganglionated; possess few sensory structures

• Body wall contains an endoskeleton of calcareous plates - ossicles

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General Characteristics cont.
• Possess a network of canals throughout the body - water vascular
system.
• The canals are connected to extensions called tube feet (=podia),
located on the oral surface
• The water vascular system is important for locomotion, feeding, and
gas exchange.

• Sexes are separate; gametes shed into the water; fertilization is external
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Starfish (Asteroidea)

• Carnivores – clams,
mussels, bivalves
• Motile by way of tube
feet
• endoskeleton made of
calcareous plates (ie.
Calcium carbonate)
• breathes through
dermal “skin gills”

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Starfish (Asteroidea)

• Carnivores – clams,
mussels, bivalves
• Motile by way of tube
feet
• endoskeleton made of
calcareous plates (ie.
Calcium carbonate)
• breathes through
dermal “skin gills”

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Starfish (Asteroidea)

• Carnivores – clams,
mussels, bivalves
• Motile by way of tube
feet
• endoskeleton made of
calcareous plates (ie.
Calcium carbonate)
• breathes through
dermal “skin gills”

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Tube Feet
and Mouth

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Star fish
• The water vascular
system’s opening is
called a madreporite.
It opens into a radial
canal. The radial
canal then goes out to
the arms in radial
canals. The radial
canals then feed water
to the tube feet.

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Anus

Ring Canal

Digestive Gland in Arm

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Echinoderm Diversity
Class Asteroidea

• Typically have 5 arms which merge with a central disc

• Mouth is located in the center of oral surface which is directed
downward

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Water Vascular System
• On the aboral surface is the opening of the water vascular system the
madreporite (=sieve plate)
• Water enters the madreporite and goes through the stone canal canal
to the ring canal
• Water then passes through a radial canal extending into each arm
• All along the length of these canals are lateral canals that terminate
in a bulb-like structures called ampullae equipped with tube feet
• Tube feet line the grooves on the oral surface - ambulacral grooves

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

How the Podia Operate

• Ampulla contract and force fluid into the podia causing it to

become extended
• Suckers at the tips of the podia come into contact with the substrate
and adhere to the surface
• Then the podia contract, thereby forcing water back into the
ampulla, and the body is pulled forward

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Nutrition

• Mouth leads to a 2-part

stomach: a large cardiac
stomach and a smaller
pyloric stomach
• The pyloric stomach
connects with digestive
glands (=pyloric cecae) that
runs into each arm

• A short intestine extends from from the pyloric stomach to an anus on

the aboral surface
• Associated with the intestine are rectal cecae that pump the fecal
wastes out of the anus
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Soloman et al. (1999) Biology. Saunders

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

– The water vascular system has suction-cup-like tube
feet used for respiration and locomotion

Anus

Spines

Stomach

TUBE FEET

CANALS

Figure 18.14A

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

-Unique water-vascular system, fluid-filled tubes beginning in the
madreporite and ending in blind-ending tube feet.
-Tube feet used for locomotion, food gathering, and gas exchange.
-Many have pedicellaria, thin, flexible stalks manipulated by muscles
and with three jaws apiece that offer protection.

Endoskeleton,
functionally similar
to arthropod
exoskeleton: a hard
shell encasing the
body, still limits
body size.

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 Water Vascular System

Morphology:
Lateral Canal
Madreporite
Radial Canal
Stone Canal
Ring Canal
Ampulla
Tiedemann’s
Podium
body
Sucker
Polian vesicle
1cm
Asteroid water vascular
system (Ruppert/Barnes)
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Additional Characteristics

• The endoskelton is made up of calcareous plates that often penetrate the

dermis as spines
• Between the spines and plates are projections called papulae, which
function in gas exchange and excretion
• Other projections on the body wall include tiny jaw-like appendages
called pedicellaria

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Class Echinoidea

• Lack arms
• Body is enclosed in a shell or test
• Body surface is usually covered with moveable spines

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Sea Urchins
• Spherical body
• Ambulacral plates bearing tube
feet that radiate out toward the
aboral surface
• Use podia and spines during
locomotion
• The spines are moveable and
articulate with the with the
calcareous ossicles

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

• Sea urchins generally feed by scraping algae off of rocks
• Accomplished via a complex chewing apparatus called
Aristotle's lantern

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Class Holothuroidea

• Lack arms
• Oral-aboral axis is greatly extended
• Endoskeleton is reduced to a few ossicles
scattered over the surface of the animal
making them rather soft bodied
• Some species crawl along the substrate
using podia; others have peristaltic
locomotion via muscle contractions

Dermal ossicles

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

• At the oral end of the body are a group of tentacles (modified
podia) that surround the mouth; used in feeding
• Have a muscular cloaca that is partly used in gas exchange
• The actual gas exchange structures are branching structures called
respiratory trees

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Class Crinoidea
• Most primitive of the echinoderms
• Unusual in that the oral surface is
directed upward
• Aboral surface is attached to the
substrate by means of a bendable
stalk
• The portion of the crinoid body
attached to the stalk is called the
crown; bears a number of arms
• Along the length of the arms are
branches called pinnules
• The arms and the pinnules have
ambulacral grooves with suckerless
podia (secrete mucus)
• The ambulacral grooves are heavily
ciliated and the cilia is used to direct
food to the mouth (=filter feeding)
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
 Reproduction
• Reproduction – echinos are either Male or Female. Sperm
and eggs produced in the Testes or Ovaries. Symmetry of a
starfish is Radial in adults, meaning if you cut it into a
Chunks or many pieces, each slice is the same. Except, in the
starfish larvae, they have Bilateral symmetry, just as in
advanced critters like Mr. B – okay not that advanced ☺, but
you know, they’re trying, okay…

• Asexual Repro – ask a Fisherman and s/he will tell you that
tearing starfish into chunks is a great way to Increase their
population. Each chunk will undergo regeneration and form
new starfish. So, ripping them up is not a great way to reduce
predation on Shellfish, which bring in a pretty-penny.

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

 C. The Trochophore Larva

• 1. tufts of cilia at its ends

• 2. ciliated band around the middle
– a. aquatic - ciliated band moves food toward
mouth
– b. terrestrial - not free-swimming; remain
within egg membrane
• 3. In mollusks - second larva - veliger
– a. no segmentation

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Trochophore Larva

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Life at different physical scales

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Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Ciliated bands used
in swimming and
feeding

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 viscous > inertial

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation

Measuring swimming
and water movement

sand dollar pluteus larva

Cilia are also used for collecting
suspended food
Gastrulation in sea urchins

Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation