brittle star

Or brittle·star

noun

1. any echinoderm of the class Ophiuroidea, having the body composed of a central, rounded disk from which radiate long, slender, fragile arms.

brittle-star

noun

1. any echinoderm of the class Ophiuroidea , occurring on the sea bottom and having five long slender arms radiating from a small central disc See also basket-star

Word History and Origins

Origin of brittle-star¹

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

In a paper published Wednesday in The Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team of scientists describe the fossil of a brittle star that was petrified while regenerating three of its six limbs.

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Small prey present in their environment at all temperatures included brittle stars, small crustaceans, worms, and molluscs.

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But headless animals called brittle stars have no brains at all and still manage to learn through experience, new research reveals.

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The corals were also crawling with critters, including squat lobsters, feathery brittle stars, and dense patches of anemones and sponges.

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Millions of years ago, animals in this phylum—including starfish, brittle stars, sea cucumbers and sea urchins—were all bilateral.

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