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
Water vascular system
• Feeding
• Attachment
Locomotion
Water vascular system
Complex system of water filled canals
Extensions of tubed feet
•Modification of the coelom
•Ciliated internally
Madreporite serve to replace water lost from the WVS and
equalize pressure
Lateral canals end at each tube feet
Ring canals associated with each arm
Ring canal that surrounds the mouth
• Ring canal opens to the outside or body cavity through
a stone canal and an opening called a Madreporite
Tube feet
Extensions of the canal system
Usually emerge through openings in skeletal ossicles
Also permit exchange of respiratory gases and nitrogenous
waste
Sensory functions
Suction cups
Oral opening- or mouth normally faced downward with
moveable oral spines around it
Madreporite
Is stated to allow pressure
equalization and top up water
supply to the WVS
There is something of a mystery
here - the madreporite shows a
continual water influx, but animals
in which it is experimentally
blocked appear to function and
move normally
Is absent in crinoids
Madreporite
Is stated to allow pressure
equalization and top up water
supply to the WVS
There is something of a mystery
here - the madreporite shows a
continual water influx, but animals
in which it is experimentally
blocked appear to function and
move normally
Is absent in crinoids
Nervous system
Echinoderms have a diffuse nervous system
with no “brain”
Nerve ring that encircles the mouth
Radial nerves that extend to each arm
Coordinate the functions of tube feet
Nerve net that coordinates the function of the
body wall
Gonads
Sexes are separate, and discharge gametes into
the sea water in response to chemo-stimulus of
other gametes.
There are gonopores, ie 2 per arm in asteroidea
at the base of ambulacral grooves.
Gonads can be large - echinoid gonads almost
fill the test (shell of sea urchin), and can be
eaten as a delicacy.
Development of a sea star
Regeneration
• Arm
• An entire sea star?
Exception to the rule
Some sea stars that have 6 or 7 arms
OR MORE!
Class Crinoidea
Crinoids or feather stars - almost certainly close to the
ancestral form of the phylum
These are mainly abyssal filter feeders, though in previous
geological periods were dominant in shallow waters
Some Carboniferous fossil beds are made of crinoid
ossicles
Crinoidea
Body is mainly made of ossicles
10 arms have podia (no ampullae) lining ciliated grooves
feeding particles to the mouth. Podia seem to catch large
particles
Arms can move due to muscles between arm ossicles
Mouth and anus are both on oral side
Figure 16.15
Class Crinoidea
Sea lily
Class Crinoidea
Feather Star
Figure 16.16
Comatulids
Free living crinoids - “feather stars”
Have >10 arms, often migrating vertically to filter feed in
shallow waters at night, usually by crawling
Antedon: A. bifida is found in UK waters. This can swim
actively.
•The mouthparts are unique, 5-radiate, known as Aristotle’s Lantern.
This involves 5 continually growing chisel teeth, each with 8
supporting skeletal pieces. This gives the teeth remarkable versatility
in their action.
Class Echinoidea- Sea Urchin
•Are all herbivores, preferring macro-algae so are mainly found
in sunlit waters.
•They can be highly effective grazers, creating “urchin barrens” devoid of
algae
Ophiuridae - brittle stars
These resemble bony starfish in general appearance, but 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
No Arms
Elongate along oral-aboral axis
Lie on flatten ventral side
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)
•They mainly feed on
detritus, collected by oral
tentacles which are
derived from tube feet.
• Oxygen exchange is
performed using gills
inside their anus
