A planktonic larval stage of starfish with two rows of hairlike appendages used for swimming and feeding.
From 'bi-' (two) and the Latin 'pinna' (feather or fin). Named in the 19th century by zoologists observing starfish larvae under microscopes.
Bipinnaria larvae are free-floating starfish babies that look nothing like adult starfish—they drift in the ocean catching tiny plankton with their feathery arms before undergoing an incredible transformation into the starfish we recognize.
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