These marine animals belong to the phylum Echinodermata, making them relatives of starfish and sea urchins. Ancient crinoids were mostly stalked, attaching themselves to the seafloor and extending ...

Metagenomic surveys have identified uncultivated microbial species whose genomes are predicted to correspond to ultra-small cell sizes. In a new study, Brown et al. describe the genomes of 797 ...

Learn how starfish got their shape after a complicated evolutionary process, starting with an ancestor that lived 500 million years ago.

How echinoderms evolved such an unusual shape has long troubled biologists.

The Starfish in Grow a Garden is among the most common Pets added to the experience with the Summer update. You will see this Pet most frequently while hatching the Common Summer Egg.

A 500-million-year-old fossil from Morocco, discovered by Natural History Museum scientists, is offering extraordinary new insights into one of evolution's most puzzling transformations: how ...

Genetic databases articles from across Nature Portfolio A genetic database is one or more sets of genetic data (genes, gene products, variants, phenotypes) stored together with software to enable ...

Tiering is the vertical distribution of organisms within the benthic boundary layer. Primary tierers are suspension-feeding organisms with a body or burrow that intersects the seafloor. Secondary ...

As many as 100 new species of deep-sea animals may have been discovered living on undersea mountains. Named in honour of two dedicated conservationists, the discovery of the spiders could help to ...

John is Ars Technica’s science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Starfish. Image via Unsplash Starfish (or sea stars) possess one of the most impressive regenerative abilities in the animal kingdom. Many species can regrow an entire body from just a single arm and ...