Echinoderms at Sandy Hook, NJ - "Dave Grant", Brookdale College Ocean Institute at Sandy Hook, NJ.htm

Sandy Hook's Echinoderms

Echinoderms (Spiny-skinned creatures) are found only in the ocean. Their body design is characterised by radial symmetry (Like spokes on a bike wheel). They also have a unique vascular system and pump water in-and-out of their madreporite (the opening on top) to their tube feet for locomotion and gripping to rocks and prey like clams.

Pumping sand from deep waters to "renourish" beaches now brings up sand dollars (Echinarachnius). These were once a rare find at Sandy Hook but are regularly collected after sand pumping operations.

Sand dollars slowly plow through the sand, tipped up at an angle so a third of their body is exposed, and feed on microorganisms like diatoms. They are eaten by flounders and other bottom fishes.

For an article about beach renourishment and whether spending all those dollars makes "cents" click here.

The newest member of the Sandy Hook community is the purple sea-urchin (Arbacia). These started to appear on the beach in large numbers in 2002. Sea urchin roe (eggs) is popular as food along the Mediterranean , West Indies and in Japan.

(Left) The five radial mouth parts of the urchin make up Aristotle's Lantern and are used to scrape rocks for algae, invertebrates and even dead fish. To read about how they may even bother horseshoe crabs, click here.

The skeleton of the urchin is made of tight-fitting calcareous plates that form a rigid test. There is an opening in the test on the ventral side for the mouth (Peristome) and for an anus on the dorsal side (Periproct). Although the "tests" are delicate and will break in your shell-bag, somehow they manage to get washed up on the beach without being crushed.

Starfish are pumping machines and use their tube feet for moving and prying open their prey.

Although slow-moving, starfish can do great damage to oyster beds.

Identify live starfish by their moving tube-feet. It is best to leave them at the beach since they are difficult to dry and preserve. Let nature do the work and only take dried specimens home with you.

After the first Nor'easter in November, starfish (Asterias) are sometimes swept ashore by the hundreds. 2002 had a high percentage of 6-legged individuals.

To read more about mass-strandings of marinelife on Sandy Hook, click here.

Fossil and recent sand dollars.
Rarely, fossils are found on the beach and the source of them is probably the eroded bluffs of Long Branch.

In Old England, mysterious "Shepherd's crowns " were thought to protect farmers from lightning.

The few sea cucumbers we find here are
tiny like this 1/4" specimen.
Synaptas(?)