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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 KP163
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP167
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP165
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP169
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP173
Codiacystis bohemica Barrande, 1887 KP174
Codiacystis docens JH1103
Codiacystis moneta (Barrande, 1887) KP622
Codiacystis KP616
Codiacystis KP613
Codiacystis KP615
Codiacystis KP618
Codiacystis BL87
Codiacystis BL194
Codiacystis KP621
Codiacystis BL100
Codiacystis JK19094
Codiacystis JK19095
Codiacystis JK18939
Codiacystis JK19096

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