Animals With Spiny Skin (Examples And Pictures)

From the cactus-like porcupine to the intimidating armor-clad hedgehog, the animal kingdom is home to many animals with spiny skin. These species have adapted unique defenses to protect themselves from predators and thrive in their environments. Discover the fascinating world of Animals With Spiny Skin and the evolutionary adaptations that have made them the formidable forces they are today.

If you’re interested in learning more about animals with spiny skin and what physical traits make each of them unique, keep reading!

Examples of Animals With Spiny Skin

Brittle Stars

First on the list of animals with spiny skin is the starfish. Brittle stars have small disk-shaped bodies and usually have five thin, long arms that are sharp and barbed. Although their limbs can be easily severed, they also regenerate very quickly.

A type of brittle star is a basket star, with each arm branching more than a few times. The outstretched arms of basket stars can reach nearly 3 feet. You can only find these creatures in deep waters, as they can reach here for their food.

Fascinatingly, brittle stars lack an anus and have tube feet that can detect light and scents. They extend one or more arms into the water and across the mud as they are feeding. Other weapons are used as anchors.

A brittle star, most of the time, produces plankton to feed on, but that doesn’t mean it can’t sometimes trap larger marine animals as well. These marine creatures move jerkily and usually cling to sponges, cnidarians, or the sea floor.

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Urchins

Urchins have globular bodies. Their organs are arranged radially, with bands of five pores running from their mouth to their anus and up their internal skeleton.

Urchin pores accommodate the animal’s tube feet. They are usually absorbent, expandable and thin. Their testes nodules give rise to movable spines and pincer-like organs. You should know that these structures can block toxins.

Additionally, urchins have mouths on the underside of their bodies. Their dental apparatus is very complex and has been named “Aristotle’s lantern”.

Because it feeds on abrasive algae and rocks, the urchin has teeth that dig into coral, rock, and even steel. It rests on the ocean floor, where the surface is hard, using its spines and legs to move from place to place.

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Feather Stars

Feather stars have five feathered fringed wings that they often use for swimming. They feed by catching floating microorganisms in their sticky arm grooves. They also have legs, called claws, to cling to corals, sponges or other substrates.

Although they are often referred to as “comatulids” and usually fall under the order Comatulida, feather stars are actually divided into several orders by different authorities.

Most species of feathered starfish are found in shallow water, resting on rocky grounds. Tropiometra is the most prevalent genus and inhabits Indian and Japanese waters. In the Atlantic Ocean, the most well-known genus is Antedon.

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Sand Dollars

The next animal with spiny skin is the sand dollar, a close cousin of the sea urchin. On sandy surfaces, this species is very suitable for digging.

Its entire body is covered with small spines that compress backward in the direction of its anus. For crawling and excavating, these spines are quite helpful.

The bottom center of the sand dollar’s body houses the creature’s mouth. A pattern on its upper surface exhibits 5 “petals” extending from the center. In other words, the syncretism displayed on this sea creature is Pentradite.

Some sand dollar species found stranded on North American beaches have 5 or 6 slots through their exoskeleton called lunules.

Most sand dollars are 2 to 4 inches in diameter, except for those in Antarctica and Europe.

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Sea Stars

Sea stars are not fish, despite their other common name of “starfish.” About 1,600 sea star species live in all of the planet’s oceans, with the North Pacific having the greatest diversity.

The majority of these animals with spiny skin have diameters between 8 and 12 inches, however, others have diameters as small as 0.4 inches. Many of them are 25 inches wide.

The 5 arms of the sea star are hollow and covered not only with small spines but also with pedicellaria (organs that resemble pincers) with rows of tube feet on the underside. These tube feet may be pointed, or they may have a suction tip.

A starfish can shed its limbs and then regrow them. Thanks to its tube feet, it travels in all directions and clings to the steepest slopes.

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Carpoids

Carpoids are unique extinct prehistoric echinoderms. They lacked the radial symmetry that other echinoderms have and did not seem to ever have a water drainage system.

Carpoids typically have a flattened body with a plate-like system and stem or arm-like appendages. These marine creatures can be related to the most basic vertebrates or chordates because they are the ancestors of the more complex echinoderms.

Some carpoids appear to have gill segments, a feature seen in primitive chordates.

Crinoids

The last member on our list of animals with spiny skin is crinoids. Any aquatic invertebrate from the phylum Echinodermata class Crinoidea, called crinoids, typically has five active and flexible arms (divided into 10+) attached to a cup-like body.

The reproductive organs of this sea creature are in the arms and bear many tube feet with sensory features.

Feather projections or pinnae surround the arms of crinoids. Food particles are swept along the open canals of the animal’s tentacles toward the mouth by tiny cilia-like hairs.

A number of primitive crinoid species and comparable forms of extinct echinoderms serve as important index fossils from the Paleozoic because they contain characteristic Lyme tests (calcium carbonate internal skeletons).

There are more than 700 known crinoid species in the deep sea.

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Last Words On Animals With Spiny Skin

With this, we end the list of animals with spiny skin. As you can see, all these creatures are invertebrates and live in the sea. Some, like urchins, are poisonous, so you won’t want to get too close to them. Others, like the Carpids, are extinct.

However, there are many other creatures that you can study up close if you decide to go on an undersea adventure. Or, you can always get a sea star for your aquarium, as this spiny-skinned animal has the most vibrant and beautiful colors.

Thanks for sticking to the end.

If you liked this article, here is another popular article about sea creatures: Sea Animals With Shells.