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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 JK18967
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP402
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP403
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP404
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP397
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP398
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP399
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP388
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP389
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP401
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP392
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 CW861
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 CW862
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP381
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP370
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP373
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP376
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP422
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP416
Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande, 1887 KP415

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