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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

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

“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

The newly described brittle star is another treasure imprinted onto the site’s limestone slabs.

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

The brittle star discards its limbs, or the best part of them, in the meekest manner possible.

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