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echinoderm

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.
e·chi·no·derm  (-kn-dûrm)
n.
Any of numerous radially symmetrical marine invertebrates of the phylum Echinodermata, which includes the starfishes, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers, having an internal calcareous skeleton and often covered with spines.

[From New Latin Echinodermata, phylum name : echino- + -dermata, -skinned (from Greek derma, dermat-, skin; see -derm).]

e·chino·dermal, e·chino·derma·tous (-dûrm-ts) adj.

echinoderm [ik-kine-oh-durm]
Noun
a sea creature with a five-part symmetrical body, such as a starfish or sea urchin [Greek ekhinos sea urchin + derma skin]

echinoderm  (-kn-dûrm)
Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Echinodermata, having a latticelike internal skeleton composed of calcite and usually a hard, spiny outer covering. The body plans of adult echinoderms show radial symmetry, typically in the pattern of a five-pointed star, while the larvae show bilateral symmetry. Echinoderms probably share a common ancestor with the hemichordates and chordates, and were already quite diversified by the Cambrian Era. They include the starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, holothurians (sea cucumbers), and crinoids, as well as thousands of extinct forms.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.echinodermechinoderm - marine invertebrates with tube feet and five-part radially symmetrical bodies
invertebrate - any animal lacking a backbone or notochord; the term is not used as a scientific classification
water vascular system - system of fluid-filled tubes used by echinoderms in locomotion and feeding and respiration
Echinodermata, phylum Echinodermata - radially symmetrical marine invertebrates including e.g. starfish and sea urchins and sea cucumbers
ambulacrum - one of the five areas on the undersurface of an echinoderm on which the tube feet are located
sea star, starfish - echinoderms characterized by five arms extending from a central disk
brittle star, brittle-star, serpent star - an animal resembling a starfish with fragile whiplike arms radiating from a small central disc
basket fish, basket star - any starfish-like animal of the genera Euryale or Astrophyton or Gorgonocephalus having slender complexly branched interlacing arms radiating from a central disc
sea urchin - shallow-water echinoderms having soft bodies enclosed in thin spiny globular shells
crinoid - primitive echinoderms having five or more feathery arms radiating from a central disk
holothurian, sea cucumber - echinoderm having a flexible sausage-shaped body, tentacles surrounding the mouth and tube feet; free-living mud feeders
tube foot - tentacular tubular process of most echinoderms (starfish and sea urchins and holothurians) having a sucker at the end and used for e.g. locomotion and respiration


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? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
Beckstrom, have written a just-released book titled The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (Portfolio), in which they hold forth on not only the model of the Apache tribes ("The Apaches persevered because they were decentralized") to, yes, echinoderms and arachnids.
Complete echinoderms are very rare because their skeletons were readily broken up after death.
In the end, the researchers used 77 animals, including fish, echinoderms, crustaceans, and mollusks.
 
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