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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 KP17
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 OZ2
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP400
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP81
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP34
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP32
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP40
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP37
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP231
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887Kácha a Šarič (2009), fig. 6E (attached bryozoans) RŠ529
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 RP152
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP132
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP134
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP138
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP131
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP119
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP88
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP86
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP97
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP64

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