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Echinoderms

Echinoderms come in very different forms but have two common characteristics:

  • a calcareous skeleton made of plates or spines present under the skin,

  • a fifth order symmetry.

There are 5 large families:

  • the starfish, where the 5th order symmetry is usually obvious,

  • the sea ​​urchins whose test has this same symmetry,

  • the sea ​​cucumbers,

  • the brittle stars,

  • the crinoids (comatulas).

The blue starfish perfectly illustrates the 5th order symmetry of these animals.

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