1. Echinodermata
Vivian Park

2. Hello to all you love-seekers! I’m of the
phylum Echinodermata. My kind
includes starfishes, sea urchines, sea
biscuits, and many more!
Better known for fossil records, this
phylum has app. 7000 living species
and about 13,000 extinct species.
I’m a small species, even when I’ve
matured, but one thing that’s
different about me is that I am
radically symmetrical as an adult,
while bilateral as a larva.
I live in water and have come to develop
a unique water vacular system. This
is used for locomotion, repiration
and feeding.I have a simple hemal
and excretory system. My nervous
system is also decentralized.
If you’re looking for a cute small, water-
loving phylum, you’re looking at her
right now!

3. I am a benthic organism that can be
found in marine environments. My
kind, echinoderms, are the only
phylum group with no freshwater or
land animals. Some of them can
even survive drying when washed
on the shore.
A starfish, an example of
enchinoderm, cling to rocks, and
prefer a rocky environment.
However, other echinoderms might
prefer sandy area where they can
burry themselves in order remain
concealed. Or live in the mud. Many
Echinoderms also use other animals
as homes such as sponges or the
skin of other fishes.
I prefer a changeless
environment, including that of
pH, salinity, and light. Since I feed at
night, I also prefer a place where I
can stay concealed throughout the
day.

4. My favorite activity is to sleep and
eat. There are many feeding
methods us echinoderms use such
as active, omnivorous
scavenging, selective predation, or
mud swallowing.
I am good with hunting a
prey, holding them down with my
tubed feet. Then I tend to break
my prey open using hydrostatic
suction. By inserting my stomach
into my prey, I can digest them
and then suck them up. I mostly
feed on small suspended
organisms.
As much as I love eating, I can also
survive several weeks without any
nutrition. I am also able to get a
great amount of nourishment
from the organic matter dissolved
in the sea water through outer
layer of my body.

5. Scientist believe that we evolved a
great deal in the Precambrian
era. However, because they are not
certain of its fossil records, due to
the lack of information and
resources available to them, they
can only speculate.
It has been suggested that the triradiate
condition may have been a
precursor of pentamerous
symmetry. Scientists also speculate
that the lack of Precambrian fossil
echinoderms indicates that while
the earliest echinoderms may have
possessed a water-vascular system,
they lacked a calcite skeleton and
thus did not fossilize.
Ancient echinoderms exhibited an
extraordinary variety of bizarre body
forms; the earliest classes seemed
to be “experimenting” with body
shapes and feeding mechanisms;
most were relatively short-lived.

6. We are some of the most distinctive animals, based
on their four morphologies. The first is that all
echinoderms have a calcitic skeleton that is
composed of many ossicles. The ossicles have
a stereom, which is a sponge-like
microstructure, that is very unique. These
ossicles act as an exoskeleton, although they
are truly an endoskeleton since they're
produced by mesenchymal cells.
The second characteristic that we have that make
them unique is a water vascular system. This
system is used for locomotion, respiration and
feeding.
The third unique characteristic that we have is
mutable collagenous tissue. Ligaments that
are made of collagen, connect the ossicles in
echinoderms. This connective tissue is
mutable, whereas most ligaments are tight but
can be loosened temporarily. Because of this
characteristic, echinoderms can maintain
different positions without much effort.
The last unique characteristic that echinoderms
have is a pentaradial body organization in
adults. This means that they are radial
symmetrical with five arms. Echinoderm's
level of symmetry changes from the larvae
stage to the adult stage. When they are larvae
they have bilateral symmetry and as adults
they have radial symmetry.

7. While I can go through internal
fertilization, I can also go through
a sexual reproduction process that
is usually separated between
male and female
echinoderms. My eggs will be laid
in the water, and the males
spermatozoa will also be laid in
the water where the eggs are then
fertilized.
I can have asexual
reproduction, which usually
involves the division of two parts
of my body or regeneration of a
missing arm. We are the first
invertebrates where the female
broods the tiny stars.
I’m looking for a male echinoderm
that can produce many
spermatozoa and aid in producing
as many offspring as possible.

8. Works Cited
 quot;ADW: Echinodermata: Information.quot; Animal
Diversity Web. 24 Apr. 2009
<http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site
/accounts/information/Echinodermata.html>.
 Biodiversity Project 2004.
<http://www.personal.psu.edu/awt5004/shar
edtaxonomicfeatures.htm>.
 quot;Echinoderm.quot; Brittanica.
 Tree of Life Web Project. 24 Apr. 2009
<http://tolweb.org/>.