page_title: Brittle star
hierarchical_section_title: Brittle star
caption_attribution_description: English: Ophiopetra lithographica from the Lower Hienheim Beds (Lower Tithonian,Upper Jurassic) near Regensburg, Germany.
context_page_description: Brittle stars are Echinoderms of the Class Ophiuroidea. The adults are superficially like starfish, but they are a different group, with different larvae. Like other echinoderms, they do have a skeleton of calcareous plates, and radial symmetry. There are about 1500 different species.
  Usually they have 5 arms, which can grow long, up to 60 cm, in the largest species. The central disk of brittle stars can be three to eight inches in diameter. Unlike starfish, they live deeper in the ocean. Ophiuroids are known even from abyssal depths. However, brittle stars are also common members of reef communities, where they hide under rocks and even within other living organisms. Generally, brittle stars live below 500m of depth.
  There are two related groups of Ophiuroids: the Ophiurida and the basket stars. Basket stars usually live in the deeper parts of the range. Brittle stars are mostly scavengers and detrivores, able to catch some small prey on occasion.
context_section_description: Brittle stars are Echinoderms of the Class Ophiuroidea. The adults are superficially like starfish, but they are a different group, with different larvae. Like other echinoderms, they do have a skeleton of calcareous plates, and radial symmetry. There are about 1500 different species. 
  Usually they have 5 arms, which can grow long, up to 60 cm, in the largest species. The central disk of brittle stars can be three to eight inches in diameter. Unlike starfish, they live deeper in the ocean. 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. Generally, brittle stars live below 500m of depth. 
  There are two related groups of Ophiuroids: the Ophiurida (brittle stars) and the basket stars (Eurialida). Basket stars usually live in the deeper parts of the range. Brittle stars are mostly scavengers and detrivores, able to catch some small prey on occasion.
caption: Ophiopetra lithographica, a Jurassic brittle star from Regensburg, Germany.
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