Comatula+Purpurea



General Overview

//Comatula purpurea// are marine animals that make up the class Comatula of the echinoderms (phylum Echinodermata).They live both in shallow water and in depths as great as 6,000 meters. Comatula purpurea are characterized by a mouth on the top surface that is surrounded by feeding arms. They have a oval shaped gut, and their anus is located next to the mouth. Although the basic echinoderm pattern of fivefold symmetry can be recognized, most cricomatula purpurea have many more than five arms. Crinoids usually have a stem used to attach themselves to a substrate, but many live attached only as juveniles and become free-swimming as adults.

Eating Habits

//Comatula purpurea// feed by filtering small particles of food from the sea water with their feather like arms. The tube feet are covered with a sticky mucus that traps any food that floats past. Once they have caught a particle of food, the tube feet can flick it into the ambulacral groove, where the cilia are able to propel the stream of mucus towards the mouth. Generally speaking, comatula purpurea living in environments with relatively little plankton have longer and more highly branched arms than those living in rich environments. Reproduction

//Comatula purpurea// have separate male and female individuals. They have no true gonads, producing their gametes from genital canals found inside some of the pinnules. The pinnules eventually rupture to release the sperm and eggs into the surrounding sea water.The fertilised eggs hatch to release a larva into the ocean and will atach to another organism to feed until becoming a free moving adult.

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