Echinoderms have long been considered to be one of the animal phyla that is strictly marine. However, there is growing evidence that some recent species may live in either brackish or hypersaline environments. Surprisingly, discoveries of fossil echinoderms in non-(open)marine paleoenvironments are lacking. In Wojkowice Quarry (Southern Poland), sediments of lowermost part of the Middle Triassi...

Of the major deuterostome groups, the echinoderms with their multiple forms and complex development are arguably the most mysterious. Although larval echinoderms are bilaterally symmetric, the adult body seems to abandon the larval body plan and to develop independently a new structure with different symmetries. The prevalent pentamer structure, the asymmetry of Lovén's rule and the variable lo...

Of the major deuterostome groups, the echinoderms with their multiple forms and complex development are arguably the most mysterious. Although larval echinoderms are bilaterally symmetric, the adult body seems to abandon the larval body plan and to develop independently a new structure with different symmetries. The prevalent pentamer structure, the asymmetry of Lovén’s rule and the variable lo...

Smooth muscle relaxation in vertebrates is regulated by a variety of neuronal signalling molecules, including neuropeptides and nitric oxide (NO). The physiology of muscle relaxation in echinoderms is of particular interest because these animals are evolutionarily more closely related to the vertebrates than to the majority of invertebrate phyla. However, whilst in vertebrates there is a clear ...

Echinoderms take many forms of symmetry. Pentameral symmetry is the major form and the other forms are derived from it. However, the ancestors of echinoderms, which originated from Cambrian period, were believed to be bilaterians. Echinoderm larvae are bilateral during their early development. During embryonic development of starfish and sea urchins, the position and the developmental sequence ...

Echinoderms possess a skeleton with a unique and distinctive meshlike microstructure called stereom that is underpinned by a specific family of genes. Stereom is thus considered the major echinoderm synapomorphy and is recognized already in some Cambrian echinoderm clades. However, data on the skeletal microstructures of early echinoderms are still sparse and come only from isolated ossicles of...

Research on the diversity of echinoderms at Drini Beach, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta has been conducted from December 2020 to July 2021. This study aimed determine Echinoderm index. The method sampling technique used belt transect with determination by purposive three stations in intertidal zone based substrate variations. Station 1 had coral type, station 2 seagrass and sand type for 3. sample th...