Phylum

Echinodermata
Made Truly By:
Samuel Enrique C. Patoc
Sydrenz Anthony Cao

Echinoderms

The members of the Phylum Echinodermata.

Word derived from the Greek words Echino meaning hedgehog and
dermis meaning skin.

They are characterized by spiny skin, an endoskeleton, a water

vascular system, and tube feet.

Most of adult echinoderms exhibit five-part radical symmetry. They

typically have no anterior or posterior end and lack cephalization.

They are deuterostomes, animals in which a blastopore develops into

an anus.

Echinoderms and chordates (vertebrates) are closely related,

according to many evidences.

They are only found in oceans (none live in land or freshwaters).

The Evolution of the Phylum Echinodermata

in the Kingdom Animalia Cladogram

The Evolution of the Phylum Echinodermata in

the Kingdom Animalia Cladogram

Forms of Echinoderms
They

have water vascular systems, which is filled

with fluid, carries out many essential body
functions, which includes respiration, circulation,
and movement. It opens to the outside through
the madreporite.

They

have hundreds of tube feet attached to each

radical canal. This allows them mobility.

Forms of Echinoderms : Starfish

Functions in Echinoderms
Feeding
Respiration

and Circulation

Excretion
Response
Movement
Reproduction

Feeding
They

have several methods of feeding. These includes:

Sea urchins use five-part jaw like structures to scrape algae from
rocks.

Sea lilies use tube feet along their arms to capture floating
plankton.

Sea cucumbers move across the ocean floor, taking in sand and
detritus

Sea stars usually feed on mollusks such as clams and mussels. Once
the preys shell is open, the star pushes its stomach out through its
mouth, pours out enzymes, and digests the mollusk in its own shell.
Then it pulls its stomach and the partially digested prey into its
mouth.

Feeding : Starfish

Respiration and Circulation

Other

than the water vascular system,

echinoderms have few adaptation to carry
out respiration or circulation.
In

most species, the thin-walled tissue of the tube

feet provides the main surface for respiration. In
some species, small outgrowths called skin gills also
function in the gas exchange.

Circulation

of needed materials and wastes takes

place throughout the water vascular system.

Excretion
In

most echinoderms, solid wastes are released as

feces through the anus.

Nitrogen-containing

cellular wastes are excreted

primarily in the form of ammonia.

This

waste product is passed into the surrounding

water through the thin-walled tissues of tube feet
and skin gills.

Response
Echinoderms

does not have a highly developed

nervous system.

Most

have a ring that surrounds the mouth, and

radial nerves that connect to the ring with the
body sections.

Most

echinoderms also have scattered sensory

cells that detect light, gravity, and chemicals
released by potential prey.

Movement

Most echinoderms move using tube feet and thin layers of

muscle fibers attached to their endoskeleton.

An echinoderms mobility is determined in part of the

structure of its endoskeleton.
Echinoidea

have
endoskeleton.

movable

spines

attached

to

their

Ophiuroidea

and Asteroidea have flexible joints that enable

them to use arms for locomotion.

In

Holothuroidea, the plates of the endoskeleton are reduced

and contained inside a soft, muscular body wall. They crawl
along the ocean floor by the combined action of tube feet and
the muscles of the body wall.

Reproduction

Echinoderms reproduce by external fertilization.

Groups of Echinoderms
There

are roughly 7000 species of

echinoderms all of which live in the
worlds oceans.

Classes

of Echinoderms include:

Echinoidea

(Sea Urchins and Sand Dollars)

Ophiuroidea

(Brittle Stars)

Holothuroidea
Asteroidea
Crinoidea

(Sea Cucumbers)

(Sea Star)

(Sea Lilies and Feather Stars)

Group of Echinoderms

Echinoidea (Sea Urchins and Sand Dollars)

These echinoderms are unique in

having large, solid plates that form a
box around their internal organs.

Many are detrivores or grazers that eat

large quantities of algae.

They defend themselves in different

ways.

Sand dollars often burrow under layers of

sand or mud.

Some sea urchins wedge themselves in rock

crevices during the day, whereas others
defend themselves using long,, sharp spines.

Ophiuroidea (Brittle Stars)

These are common in many parts

of the sea, especially on coral
reefs.

They have slender, flexible arms

and can scuttle around quite
rapidly to escape predators.

Brittle stars shed one or more

arms that keeps movie to distract
the attacking predator while the
brittle star escapes.

They are filter feeders and

detrivores that hide by day and
wander around under cover of
darkness.

Holothuroidea (Sea Cucumbers)

They look like

moving pickles.

warty,

Most of them are detritus

feeders that move along
the seafloor while sucking
up organic matter and the
remains of other organisms.

Herds containing hundreds

of
thousands
of
sea
cucumbers roam across the
deep-sea floor.

Asteroidea (Sea Star)

They are probably the bestknown group of echinoderms.

They move by creeping slowly

along the ocean floor.

Most are carnivorous, preying

on bivalves.

They have incredible abilities

to repair themselves when
damaged.

Crinoidea (Sea Lilies and

Feather Stars)

These filter feeders, which have long,

feathery arms, make up the oldest class of
echinoderms.

They are common in tropical oceans today,

and a rich fossil record shows that they were
distributed widely throughout ancient seas.

Like modern sea lilies, their fossilized

ancestors lived attached to the ocean bottom
by a long, stem-like stalk.

Many modern feather stars live on coral reefs,

where they perch onto of rocks and use their
tube feet to catch floating plankton.