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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:
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 MŠ1877
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 MŠ1871
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 p2383
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 XB333
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 XA797
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 MŠ1876
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 MŠ2026
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 XA793
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 VL699
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 MŠ2020
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 MŠ2030
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 MŠ1873
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 BL86
Cystoidea Buch, 1846 OZ234
Echinosphaerites barrandei RP158
Echinosphaerites bohemicusfoto XB801
Echinosphaerites infaustus Barrande, 1887 KP238
Echinosphaerites infaustus Barrande, 1887 KP239
Echinosphaerites infaustus Barrande, 1887 VH5089
Echinosphaerites infaustus Barrande, 1887 JP1299

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