Ophiuridae

Ophiuridae is a large family of brittle stars within the suborder Ophiurina. Their arms are simple and lack branches, attaching firmly to the disc's edge and moving side to side. Short, movable spines on the arms lie flat when the animal is disturbed but stand upright when it is at rest. Both the disc and arms are covered with separate, visible scales, with these scales found on each side of the disc.

A continuous ring of mouth papillae surrounds the jaw, and the base of each arm has either a single comb or both an inner and outer comb. Fossil evidence of this family goes back to the Carboniferous period, specifically the genus Aganaster†. The living genera include those sometimes placed in the family Ophioleucidae, which are here treated as the subfamily Ophioleucinae.