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A marine phylum of 6000 species, this is the only group of animals to exhibit radial symmetry as adults. The name Echinodermata, i.e. animals with spiny skin, derives from the spines and tubercles, which project from calcareous ossicles embedded in the skin. The ossicles form a characteristic internal skeleton.

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Information about echinoderms in Australia including their biology, anatomy, behaviour, reproduction, predators, prey and ecology.

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:::: What's It Like Where You Live? - Temperate Oceans ::::

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** note: To enable closed captioning, please click on the small CC in the bottom right of the video controls.

Echinoderms are slow animals radically different from us, but they are an evolutionary success. All echinoderms have five-part symmetry. We see the inner workings of sea stars, from their tube feet to their skeleton.

Urchins are ferocious herbivores chomping down kelp with their jaws. Cucumbers vacuum clean food from the sediment with their tube feet having a big affect on sea floor ecology. Brittle stars blanket some areas of the ocean bottom catching drifting plankton.

Echinoderms pump water into their tube feet, giving them power to move. They have light-sensing organs and can smell their way to food. Sea stars are formidable predators. We see their tube feet pry open a mussel and extrude the stomach into the mussel. A camera inside the mussel shows us actual footage of the stomach digesting the mussel. We also see the formidable many armed sun star chase and catch a snail.

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note: To enable closed captioning, please click on the small CC in the bottom right of the video controls. Echinoderms are slow animals radically different from us, but they are an evolutionary success. All echinoderms have five-part symmetry. We see the inner workings of sea stars, from their tube feet to their skeleton.

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The Starfish Sea-urchins and allies (Phylum Echinodermata)

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An introduction to the biology, classification and ecology of Sea-cucmbers, Sea-stars, Sea-urchins and Starfish of the phylum Echinodermata

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phylum echinodermata - echinoderms crinoids starfish tree of life

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Phylum Echinodermata - Echinoderms Crinoids Starfish

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Name: Echinoderm True/False Indicate whether the sentence or statement is true or false. TF 1. Chordates and echinoderms have a common ancestor. TF 2. None of the echinoderms living in the oceans today is sessile. TF 3. In addition to radial symmetry, echinoderms have a water-vascular system. TF 4. ...

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Outbreaks of crown of thorns starfish threaten the heart of the Coral Triangle in Indonesia. Outbreaks of the notorious crown of thorns starfish now threaten the "coral triangle," the richest center of coral reef biodiversity on Earth, according to recent surveys by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

The starfish - a predator that feeds on corals by spreading its stomach over them and using digestive enzymes to liquefy tissue - were discovered in large numbers by the researchers in reefs in Halmahera, Indonesia, at the heart of the Coral Triangle, which lies between Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It is considered the genetic fountainhead for coral diversity found on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo and other reefs in the region.

Scientists fear the outbreak is caused by poor water quality and could be an early warning of widespread reef decline.

Recent surveys of Halmahera by the Wildlife Conservation Society and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies confirmed that while Halmahera's reefs are still 30-50 percent richer than nearby reefs, some areas were almost completely destroyed.

"The main cause of damage to the corals was the Crown of Thorns Starfish," Dr. Andrew Baird of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University. "We witnessed a number of active outbreaks of this coral predator. There was little to suggest that the reefs have been much affected by climate change as yet: the threats appear far more localized."

The team also saw first-hand evidence of recent blast-fishing, an extremely destructive fishing practice that uses explosives. According to locals this accompanied a break down of law and order following communal violence in 2000-2003. During the same time many reef lagoons were mined of their corals for use in construction, an activity encouraged by the Indonesian military.

"This is clearly a complex human environment and effective management of the marine resources must address the needs of communities. It will also be vitally important to understand the causes of conflict among communities and address them," says Dr Stuart Campbell, Program Leader for the Wildlife Conservation Society's' Marine Program in Indonesia.

The researchers pointed out that there were still healthy populations of certain species - and still time to reverse the damage.

"The good news is that the reef fish assemblages are still in very good shape" said Tasrif Kartawijaya from WCS-IP. "We saw Napoleon wrasse and bumphead parrot fish at almost every site. So these reefs have the capacity to recover if we can address the current threats."

The Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) announced by six regional governments at the Bali Climate Change Conference recently offers hope for the reefs in the region, the researchers say. However, there are few details of how it will work and no mention of the fundamental role of research in the conservation program.

"We are disappointed research is yet to be fully considered in the CTI. The success of large marine parks, like the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, is largely due to the primary role of science plays in understanding what's going on, so managers can make good decisions," said Dr Baird.

"It isn't enough just to document the diversity of the region. Large scale research is required to understand the Coral Triangle ecosystems and work out how best to respond to threats such as poor water quality and overexploitation," Dr Campbell added.

Source : Wildlife Conservation Society

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Outbreaks of crown of thorns starfish threaten the heart of the Coral Triangle in Indonesia. Outbreaks of the notorious crown of thorns starfish now threaten the "coral triangle," the richest center of coral reef biodiversity on Earth, according to recent surveys by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

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Micscape Microscopy and Microscope Magazine

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Micscape Magazine for enthusiast microscopy

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The creatures have self-honing teeth which allow them to chomp through stone, carving out hideaways on rocky shores.

Scientists have now learned how the urchins keep their teeth razor-sharp and believe that technology based on the same principle could create everlasting bladed tools.

Analysing the teeth of the California purple sea urchin, the scientists found a complex structure of layered calcite crystals held together by super-hard natural cement.

Between the crystals are layers of weaker organic material. As each hard layer becomes blunt it breaks off, exposing a fresh crystalline surface beneath. In this way, the sea urchin's teeth stay sharp.

Professor Pupa Gilbert, who led the US team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: "The organic layers are the weak links in the chain. There are breaking points at predetermined locations built into the teeth.

"It is a concept similar to perforated paper in the sense that the material breaks at these predetermined weak spots."

The crystals come in two forms, plates and fibres, arranged crosswise in a tough "biomineral" mosaic.

Prof Gilbert, whose research appears in the journal Advanced Functional Material, added: "Now that we know how it works, the knowledge could be used to develop methods to fabricate tools that could actually sharpen themselves with use.

"The mechanism used by the urchin is the key. By shaping the object appropriately and using the same strategy the urchin employs, a tool with a self-sharpening edge could, in theory, be created."

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Sea urchin could lead to knives that never need sharpening

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The creatures have self-honing teeth which allow them to chomp through stone, carving out hideaways on rocky shores. Scientists have now learned how the urchins keep their teeth razor-sharp and believe that technology based on the same principle could create everlasting bladed tools.

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Scientists already knew that the creatures, which resemble underwater hedgehogs, are one of only a few invertebrates (animals without backbones) on the human branch of the evolutionary tree.

But a new sequence of the California purple urchin's genome reveals that the marine creatures and humans bear a striking number of similarities. (See related news photo: "Sea Urchin Genome Decoded".)

"Comparing all the genes of the sea urchin, it's actually quite similar to us," says George Weinstock, who led the sequencing project. Weinstock is co-director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

The sea urchin is one of the few marine organisms whose genome has been sequenced. The study therefore also provides insights into the vital role of sea urchins in many marine ecosystems.

"Sea urchins are major grazers in shallow seas of many parts of the world's oceans ... and they are the main prey of many top predators," says John Pearse, a biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Results from the sequencing project and accompanying articles, including one by Pearse, will appear in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.

Sea urchins, which feed mainly on algae, live in environments that alternate between species-rich kelp forests and sea urchin-dominated "barrens."

"They are known to limit sea grass and kelp production and consequently the diversity and complexity in communities supported by these producers," Pearse says.

He compares sea urchins to rabbits and other grazers found on land.

"Sea urchins are the main prey of many top predators-including crabs, lobsters, fish, and sea otters-that directly limit their abundance, comparable to how coyotes, hawks, and owls limit the abundance of rabbits," Pearse says.

With a diminishing population of sea otters in California's Monterey Bay, for example, the population of sea urchins has multiplied. The sea urchins are reportedly chewing up the kelp forest in the area and upsetting the ecosystem. (Related video: "Killer Whale Mystery at Monterey Bay".)

There are other factors that influence sea urchins' ecological role, including interactions among different urchin species.

"Populations of some species tend to explode and devastate the communities they are in, while others rarely do so," Pearse says. "Knowledge of their genome might allow people to better understand the underlying mechanisms that lead to such differences."

Sea urchins can also be used by scientists to detect toxic chemicals.

"One of the things in the genome project has been to come up with a very detailed description of the defense mechanism that sea urchins have to deal with toxic chemicals," Weinstock, of Baylor College of Medicine, says.

"Understanding their sensitivities and resistances could potentially help fine-tune our use of them, in terms of understanding the marine environment."

Humans are also directly affecting sea urchin populations. Sea urchin roe, or ovaries, are a delicacy in Korea and Japan.

The U.S. sea urchin fishery has been in decline in recent years, however, because of reduced demand from Japanese consumers. (Related: "Seafood May Be Gone by 2048, Study Says")

The urchin's usefulness as a model for developmental biology was another major reason for the sequencing project.

Scientists have long used sea urchins to study fertilization and early development in humans.

"The series of steps that happen after an egg is fertilized by a sperm ... those very early events turn out to be the same in the sea urchin as they are in the human," Weinstock says.

The scientists identified more than 23,000 genes in the 814 million base pairs, or "letters," of DNA code taken from the sea urchin.

The sea urchin represents the first sequenced genome from the echinoderms, which are the closest known relatives of the chordates, the group that includes vertebrates, animals with spinal columns.

The genome includes analogs to many essential human genes that were previously thought to be exclusive to vertebrates.

But missing among the sea urchin genes are some genes found in flies and worms. This, scientists say, shows that sea urchins are closer kin to humans than beetles, flies, crabs, and clams.

"Humans and sea urchins have a common ancestor," Weinstock says.

The eyeless sea urchin also has genes associated with taste, smell, hearing, balance-and surprisingly, even vision.

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Sea Urchin Genome Reveals Striking Similarities to Humans

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Scientists already knew that the creatures, which resemble underwater hedgehogs, are one of only a few invertebrates (animals without backbones) on the human branch of the evolutionary tree. But a new sequence of the California purple urchin's genome reveals that the marine creatures and humans bear a striking number of similarities.