Echinoderms

Fish Out of Water: Five Ocean Species We're Eating to Death

31 Jan 2012

Sea urchins appear to be the lowliest of marine creatures—the painfully prickly echinoderms sit at the bottom of the ocean, feeding on algae far beneath the sea’s majestic swimmers. But there’s one set of landlubbers that can’t get enough of the briny deep’s ugliest residents: Sushi eaters. Green sea urchin populations have plummeted in North America, thanks in large part to rising demands for ...

Natural La Jolla: Sea stars are models of engineering, efficiency

25 Jan 2012

Starfish are iconic animals of the sea, immediately recognizable by everyone. Although many insist that the proper term for these calcareous creatures is “sea star,� starfish is more commonly used. Starfish are Echinoderms (along with sea cucumbers and sea urchins) and many belong to the Class Asteroidea. There are hundreds of different species around the world in all kinds of habitats, but ...