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• brittle star
  brittle star

  noun

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

  noun

  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

brittle star

American  

Or brittlestar

noun

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

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brittle-star British  

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

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Etymology

Origin of brittle star

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

“You have this brittle star with every single piece in its original place, just as if it washed up on the beach a day ago,” Dr. Thuy said.

From New York Times • May 14, 2024

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.

From New York Times • May 14, 2024

The brittle star fossil was discovered in the Nusplingen limestone deposit in southern Germany.

From New York Times • May 14, 2024

Clockwise from top left: an anemone, a brittle star, Acanthogorgiidae coral and a pencil urchin.Credit:

From Nature • Jul. 23, 2019

It has been asserted that no one has ever captured by hand a brittle star perfect in all its members.

From Confessions of a Beachcomber by Banfield, E. J. (Edmund James)