Ophiomusa
A genus of brittle stars with long, spiny arms and a central disc.
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Ophiomusa is a genus of echinoderms, belonging to the family Ophiolepididae, which also includes sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers. As ophiuroids, or brittle stars, they are notable for their long, thin, spiny arms made of calcium carbonate plates, which are distinctly separated from a central disc and enable snake-like movement across seafloor sediments.
Scientific classification
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumEchinodermata
- ClassOphiuroidea
- OrderAmphilepidida
- FamilyOphiolepididae
- GenusOphiomusa
Named by Hertz, 1927
Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Ophiomusa (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Quick Facts
- Disc diameter range
- 6–12 mm / 0.02–0.039 ft
- Arm length
- greater than 4 times disc diameter
- Sexual maturity age
- about two years
- Lifespan
- up to about five years
- Reproduction methods
- asexual (fission) and sexual
- Distribution
- almost cosmopolitan, observed in tropic and polar regions
Facts from the source article.
Background
Ophiomusa belongs to the class Ophiuroidea, commonly known as brittle stars. These echinoderms have a central disc ranging from 6 to 12 mm in diameter, with arms that can exceed four times the disc diameter in length. The arms are composed of calcium carbonate plates and are spiny, aiding in locomotion and feeding.
The first dorsal arm plates are trapezoidal, while subsequent ones are triangular and separated from each other. Brittle stars lack a brain and eyes but possess a stomach, sex organs, and a mouth with five jaws located on the oral surface, which faces downward but is held off the sea floor. They can regenerate severed arms and even voluntarily cut off an arm (autotomy), which gives them their common name.
More in Sea Cucumbers
Elsewhere in Sea Cucumbers and Brittle Stars
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Ophiomusa (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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