This is kind of a tricky one..but I think it is clear.. a Slime star-Pteraster militaris but BROODING! i.e. it carries babies (see red circle) in the "circus tent" membrane that covers its surface! Presumably when they are ready they just crawl out! #echinoday (from the Arctic/subArctic)
A deepsea brittle star called Stegophiura ponderosa! but whose disk looks very much like a UFO or underwater base! This is the reward for ophiuroids.. looking at these smallish critters reveals amazing patterns and structures! #echinoday
A quite STYLISH brittle star sporting an asymmetrical stripe.. rather akin to the uniforms in Space 1999 designed by Rudi Gernreich!! #echinoday
Me at the Academy collections in 2019 posing with some big-ass ophiuroids! Astrotoma agassizi (Antarctic), Ophiopsammus maculata (New Zealand) and a pretty swollen Asteronyx loveni from the Bering Sea! #echinoday
A pretty awesome looking basket star from the Indian Ocean called Astrocladus socotrana! #echinoday
One of the wilder looking sand dollars (aka a type of sea urchin) from West Africa, called Rotula orbiculus! from the collections in Perth at the Western Australian Museum! #Invertefest#echinoday
Although this is a commonly encountered Atlantic urchin, I found them to be unusual and quite cool looking! Arbacia punctulata! A species with these distinct bare zones radiating out from the apex! #echinoday
Calliaster regenerator! A seldom seen deep-sea starfish from the Indian/central pacific Ocean! Spiny and knobby! from my visit to Perth and the Western Australian Museum earlier this year! #echinoday