An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea lilies or "stone lilies". Adult echinoderms are found on the sea bed at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. The phylum contains about 7,000 living species, making it the second-largest grouping of deuterostomes, after the chordates. Echinoderms are the largest entirely marine phylum. The first definitive echinoderms appeared near the start of the Cambrian.
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.
Taxonomy and evolution
The name echinoderm is . Echinoderms are bilaterians, meaning that their ancestors were mirror-symmetric. Among the bilaterians, they belong to the deuterostome division, meaning that the blastopore, the first opening to form during embryo development, becomes the anus instead of the mouth. The characteristics of adult echinoderms are the possession of a water vascular system with external tube feet and a calcareous endoskeleton consisting of ossicles connected by a mesh of collagen fibres.
Phylogeny
Historically, taxonomists believed that the Ophiuroidea were sister to the Asteroidea, or that they were sister to the (Holothuroidea + Echinoidea). However, a 2014 analysis of 219 genes from all classes of echinoderms revised the phylogenetic tree. An independent analysis in 2015 of RNA transcriptomes from 23 species across all classes of echinoderms gave the same tree.
External phylogeny
The context of the echinoderms within the Bilateria is:
Internal phylogeny
Diversity
There are about 7,000 extant species of echinoderm as well as about 13,000 extinct species. All echinoderms are marine, but they are found in habitats ranging from shallow intertidal areas to abyssal depths. Two main subdivisions are traditionally recognised: the more familiar motile Eleutherozoa, which encompasses the Asteroidea (starfish, with some 1,745 species), Ophiuroidea (brittle stars, with around 2,300 species), Echinoidea (sea urchins and sand dollars, with some 900 species) and Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers, with about 1,430 species); and the Pelmatozoa, some of which are sessile while others are motile. These consist of the Crinoidea (feather stars and sea lilies, with around 580 species) and the extinct blastoids and Paracrinoids.
Fossil history
The oldest candidate echinoderm fossil is Arkarua from the Precambrian of Australia. These fossils are disc-like, with radial ridges on the rim and a five-pointed central depression marked with radial lines. However, the fossils have no stereom or internal structure indicating a water vascular system, so they cannot be conclusively identified.
The first universally accepted echinoderms appear in the Lower Cambrian period; asterozoans appeared in the Ordovician, while the crinoids were a dominant group in the Paleozoic. Echinoderms left behind an extensive fossil record. It is hypothesised that the ancestor of all echinoderms was a simple, motile, bilaterally symmetrical animal with a mouth, gut and anus. This ancestral organism adopted an attached mode of life with suspension feeding, and developed radial symmetry. Even so, the larvae of all echinoderms are bilaterally symmetrical, and all develop radial symmetry at metamorphosis. Like their ancestor, the starfish and crinoids still attach themselves to the seabed while changing to their adult form.