Echinoderms 

You have probably seen an echinoderm before. Starfish, sand dollars, brittle stars and sea
urchins are all echinoderms. Echinoderms (pronounced e-kine-o-derms) are a group of
animals that can only live in the ocean. They are grouped together because they have many
things in common.

The name echinoderm comes from a word in the Latin language that means ​spiny skin​. All
echinoderms have spiny or bumpy skin. Their bumps aren't always easy to see like the bumps
on a toad's skin, but they are there if you look closely.

All echinoderms are also invertebrates. This means they do not have a backbone. You have a
backbone that helps hold your body up straight. Echinoderms crawl on the ocean floor. They
do not need to be able to stand up straight like we do.

All echinoderms have something called ​radial symmetry

on their bodies. This means that they have body parts
arranged around a central point. If you can picture how
you would divide a pizza into five equal slices then you
can picture radial symmetry. Having radial symmetry
allows them to sense food, predators, and other things in
their environment from all directions.

A characteristic unique to echinoderms is their ​water-vascular system​. It allows them to move,

exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen, capture food, and release wastes. The water-vascular
system is a network of water-filled canals with thousands of tube feet connected to it. ​Tube
feet​ are hollow, thin-walled tubes that each end in a suction cup. As the pressure in the tube
feet changes, the animal is able to move along by pushing out and pulling in its tube feet.

Echinoderms have another amazing adaptation called ​regeneration.​ This means, if they lose a
body part, they can grow it back.