An 

echinoderm /ɪˈkaɪnoʊdɜːrm/ is any member of the phylum Echinodermata /ɪˌkaɪnoʊ

ˈdɜːrmətə/ (from Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος echīnos "hedgehog" and δέρμα derma "skin")
[2]
 of marine animals. The adults are recognizable by their (usually five-point) radial
symmetry, and include starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as
the sea lilies or "stone lilies".[3] Adult echinoderms are found on the sea bed at every ocean
depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. The phylum contains about 7000
living species,[4] making it the second-largest grouping of deuterostomes (a superphylum),
after the chordates (which include the vertebrates, such as birds, fishes, mammals,
and reptiles). Echinoderms are the largest phylum that has no freshwater or terrestrial
members.
Aside from the hard-to-classify Arkarua (a Precambrian animal with echinoderm-like
pentamerous radial symmetry), the first definitive members of the phylum appeared near the
start of the Cambrian. One group of Cambrian echinoderms, the cinctans (Homalozoa),
which are close to the base of the echinoderm origin, has been found to possess external
gills used for filter feeding, similar to those possessed by chordates and hemichordates.[5]
The echinoderms are important both ecologically and geologically. Ecologically, there are
few other groupings so abundant in the biotic desert of the deep sea, as well as shallower
oceans. Most echinoderms are able to reproduce asexually and regenerate tissue, organs,
and limbs; in some cases, they can undergo complete regeneration from a single limb.
Geologically, the value of echinoderms is in their ossified skeletons, which are major
contributors to many limestone formations, and can provide valuable clues as to the
geological environment. They were the most used species in regenerative research in the
19th and 20th centuries. Further, some scientists hold that the radiation of echinoderms was
responsible for the Mesozoic Marine Revolution.