Scientists have discovered the first evidence that brittle stars living in vibrant coral reefs use thousands of light sensors to navigate their way through their complex environments. This particular ...

To the untrained eye, the ancient brittle star fossil above looks like what you’d expect of a now-especially-brittle echinoderm. But the fossil is quite rare: It captures the moment at which the ...

Scientists have discovered the first evidence that brittle stars living in vibrant coral reefs use thousands of light sensors to navigate their way through their complex environments. Scientists have ...

We humans are fixated on big brains as a proxy for smarts. But headless animals called brittle stars have no brains at all and still manage to learn through experience, new research reveals. These shy ...

In theory, Tim O’Hara had come to Paris to map the biodiversity of a faraway seamount. In practice, this meant sifting a plastic barrel of preserved brittle stars floating in 95% ethanol. For weeks, ...

Ophioplocus esmarki brittle star, which is part of the Echinoderm phylum. Currently, my research focuses on the development of the Ophioplocus esmarki brittle star. Brittle stars belong to the phylum ...

As mist lingers over a Swedish fjord lined with towering, forested cliffs, a group of scientists collect mud from the bottom of the turquoise-colored waters. They’re after brittle stars—marine animals ...

Ophiodia peloria, commonly known as Brittle Star are omnivorous, scavengers and detrivores, (meaning they eat dead and decaying things off the sea floor). Their mouth, which is located on the bottom ...

Currently, my research focuses on the development of the Ophioplocus esmarki brittle star. Brittle stars belong to the phylum Echinodermata, which contains over 7,000 living species of marine ...