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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:
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP564
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP570
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP571
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP572
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP573
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP575
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP576
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP584
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 JP1362
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP549
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP559
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP560
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP175
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP177
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP183
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP181
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP186
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP185
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP188
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP189

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