brittle star

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Related to Brittle stars: Feather stars, Sea lilies

brittle star

Any of various marine echinoderms of the order Ophiurida having long slender arms.

brit′tle star`

or brit′tle•star`,

any echinoderm of the class Ophiuroidea, having the body composed of a central rounded disk from which radiate long, slender, fragile arms.

[1835–45]

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Noun

brittle star - an animal resembling a starfish with fragile whiplike arms radiating from a small central disc

brittle-star, serpent star

echinoderm - marine invertebrates with tube feet and five-part radially symmetrical bodies

Ophiurida, subclass Ophiurida - brittle stars

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References in periodicals archive ?

The brittle stars arms have near-perfect microscopic lenses that are made of calcite.

Secrets Of Tougher Synthetic Ceramics Learnt From Brittle Starfish

Global diversity of brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea).

Crossing the Divide: Admixture Across the Antarctic Polar Front Revealed by the Brittle Star Astrotoma agassizii

Without these astonishing submerged landscapes there simply wouldn't be any fish, let alone fantastic jewel anemones, seahorses, dolphins, brittle stars among all the other wild and extraordinary creatures which are part of a healthy marine ecosystem.

Conserving the 'coal coast' TONY HENDERSON reports on a move to turn the once coal-blackened beaches off Durham into a Marine Conservation Zone to help protect its wildlife and undersea habitats

Nonetheless, polar steroids are proved to be an important natural product isolated from brittle stars which are responsible for their cytotoxicity, terpenes, naphthoquinones, phenylpropanoids, carotenoids and cerebrosides have been isolated from brittle stars and might have pharmacological activities (13).

Evaluation of the anti-proliferative effects of Ophiocoma erinaceus methanol extract against human cervical cancer cells

Caption: Glass sponges, which provide habitat for feather and brittle stars in frigid Antarctic waters, flourished following the collapse of the Larsen A ice shelf.

Ice shelf busts, sponges boom: creatures emerge in Antarctic after Larsen A collapse

Some echinoderms like brittle stars have lower prospects of survival in carbon dioxide values predicted for the year 2100.

Acidification of ocean's adversely impacting sea animals' health

I think it was too much white and brown, and not enough color on the corals and brittle stars.

Deep-Ocean Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion Revealed

In the tank, look at the brittle stars and the sea stars--what differences do you see between them?

Teaching the major invertebrate Phyla in one laboratory session

What you saw was a field of brown corals with exposed skeleton - white, brittle stars tightly wound around the skeleton, not waving their arms like they usually do.

Scientists find damage to coral near BP well

It is colonised by marine life, with a dense carpet of plumose anemones , sea urchins and brittle stars.

WRECKS FACTOR; Mike's spent 25 years exploring ghostly secrets of sunken ships

During an expedition to the shelf edge of the Great Barrier Reef, scientists captured the first images of the life associated with rolling undersea dunes and discovered a large community of aggregated brittle stars that have spectacular luminescent behaviour.

Flashing stars light up the Reef's shelf

Large, mobile beds of brittle stars (a relative of starfish) occur, along with numerous rare sponges and fish.