Notes:
Each of the echimoderm classes has its own distinctive ciliated planktonic larval stages. Starfish begin as aricularia larvae and then transform into the brachiolaria. The specimen shown here was caught in a plankton net attached to an epibenthic sled. These are delicate larvae, and this specimen suffered (and all others captured) a bit from capture and handling. The body is really bilaterally symmetrical with a number of fleshy ciliated "arms on each side.

This specimen may be from the sea star Asterias, one of the most common starfishes of the north and mid-Atlantic coasts

lCollected by: Bill Johnson, Goucher College.