A major group of marine animals with spiny skin, including starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, and sea lilies.
Latin scientific classification from Greek echinos (hedgehog) + derma (skin) + -ata (plural suffix), formally established by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1801 as a major phylum.
Echinoderms have a bizarre anatomy—their tube feet can taste chemicals, they have no brain, and some can regenerate lost arms—yet they've thrived in oceans for over 500 million years.
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