A | B |
habitat | all over the world in coastal waters and along rocky shores |
food | oysters, clams |
oral surface | the underside of its body where the mouth is |
aboral surface | the top side of its body |
endoskeleton | a skeleton found within the body |
ossicles | calcium plates covered with a thin layer of epidermus which also form the spines on the aboral surface |
pedicellariae | groups of tiny pincer like cells which help protect and clean the surface of the body |
water-vascular system | a network of canals in which muscular contractions create hydrostatic pressure which permits movement |
sieve plate | a small opening on the aboral side where water enters |
madreporite | a calcereous pore beneath the sieve plate used for intake of water |
stone canal | a water passage connecting the madreporite to the ring canal |
ring canal | a water passage encircling the mouth and braching out to each radial canal |
radial canal | water passage that extends from the ring canal to the hundreds of paired tube feet |
ampulla | a bulblike sac at the upper end of each tube foot |
suction | created and released by the contraction of the tube feet and the ampula which enbales the sea star to move, and to catch and open prey |
stomach | gets turned inside out and is inserted into the bivalve |
enzymes | secreted by the stomach to digest the bivalve while it is still in its shell |
coelom | fluid in this body cavity bahtes the organs and distributes nutrients and oxygen |
skin gills | holow tubes that project from the coelom lining |
diffusion | method of gas exchange and waste excretion; through the thin walls of the tube feet and the skin gills |
nerve ring | surrounds the mouth and branches off into nerve cords that extend into each arm |
eyespot | found on each arm and is sensitive to light |
tentacle (and tube feet) | found on each arm and is sensitive to touch |
gonads | two in each arm, producing eggs in females and sperm in males |
200 million | eggs produced by one female in one season |
bipinnaria | free swimming, bilateral larva from a fertilized egg |
asexual reproduction | regeneration of lost parts |
can still regenerate | a segment of an arm with intact portions of the central disc |