page_title: Brittle star
section_title: Range
hierarchical_section_title: Brittle star / Range
caption_attribution_description: English: Ophiopetra lithographica from the Lower Hienheim Beds (Lower Tithonian,Upper Jurassic) near Regensburg, Germany.
context_page_description: Brittle stars or ophiuroids are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long, slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to 60 cm in length on the largest specimens. They are also known as serpent stars; the New Latin class name Ophiuroidea is derived from the Ancient Greek ὄφις, meaning "serpent".
  The Ophiuroidea contain two large clades, Ophiurida and Euryalida. Over 2,000 species of brittle stars live today. More than 1200 of these species are found in deep waters, greater than 200 m deep.
context_section_description: The ophiuroids diverged in the Early Ordovician, about 500 million years ago. Ophiuroids can be found today in all of the major marine provinces, from the poles to the tropics. Basket stars are usually confined to the deeper parts of this range; Ophiuroids are known even from abyssal (>6000 m) depths. However, brittle stars are also common members of reef communities, where they hide under rocks and even within other living organisms. A few ophiuroid species can even tolerate brackish water, an ability otherwise almost unknown among echinoderms. A brittle star's skeleton is made up of embedded ossicles.
caption: Ophiopetra lithographica from the Lower Hienheim Beds (Lower Tithonian, Upper Jurassic) near Regensburg, Germany
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