BIOREPORTAGE – THE BASKET STAR

When we talk about echinoderms, that is to say that group of sea animals usually provided with “thorns on the skin”, we generally refer to well-known sea urchins and starfishes. Few people know that the crinoids (or sea lilies), the holothurias (or sea cucumbers), and finally a particular type of “star”, named “ofiure” or, more commonly, serpentine stars. The “ofiure”, like the other starfishes, are made up of a central body from which some arms arise; however there are also quite evident differences between the two classes and some of them are easily visible even at a cursory examination.

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