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Cystoidea (Cystoids)

      The Cystoidea or cystoids, are extinct echinoderms that lived attached to the sea floor by stalks, and are distinguished from other echinoderms by triangular pore openings. Superficially, the cystoids resembled crinoids, but they had an ovoid, rather than cup-shaped, body. The mouth was at the upper pole of the body, with the opposite end attached to the substratum, often by a stalk, although some stalkless species did exist. The anus lay on the side of the body. Five, or less commonly three, ambulacral areas ran along the outside of the body, radiating outwards from the mouth. A number of small tentacles either surrounded the mouth, or projected outwards in a row from the ambulacral areas, depending on species. The most distinctive feature of cystoids was the presence of a number of pores in the rigid skeleton encasing the body. These were most likely respiratory in nature, allowing fluid to flow in or out of the body. In some species, the pores were clustered in distinct regions, but in others they were distributed quite widely over the body surface.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystoids
cystoidea
Img. 82:
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP424
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP423
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP379
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP372
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP417
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP409
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP382
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP384
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP393
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP391
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP394
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP395
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP396
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 JK18966
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP369
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP374
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 JP1146
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP516
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP517
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP61

Virtual museum of the Czech Geological Survey, www.geology.cz, (C) Czech Geological Survey, 2011, v.0.99 [13.12.2011]