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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 KP111
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP113
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP110
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP117
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP115
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP118
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP116
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP121
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP100
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP99
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP103
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP101
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP106
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP104
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP109
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP87
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP96
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP94
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP95
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP92

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