asteroid

asteroid
en:Asteroid (disambiguation)
en:William Herschel

From aster + -oid, lit. "star-like". Coined by William Herschel.

The orbital planes of asteroids, minor bodies that circle the Sun mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, are often more tilted ...

2007, Hannu Karttunen et al., editors, Fundamental Astronomy, 5th edition, page 131:

(astronomy) In the Solar system, such a body that orbits within the orbit of Jupiter


starfish

en-noun

starfish (plural starfishes or starfish)

Near-synonym: Asteroidea

Any of various echinoderms (not in fact fish) with usually five arms, many of which eat bivalves or corals by everting their stomach.


echinoderm

From French échinoderme, corresponding to echino- + -derm, after plural of 18th-century Latin echinoderma.

Comparatively few additions were therefore made to the previously known Echinoderm-fauna of Brazil, only a single species, a Leptasterias, being with certainty new to science.

1879, Richard Rathbun, A List of the Brazilian Echinoderms: With Notes on Their Distribution, Etc:

Many echinoderms are still bilateral as larvae, and swim freely in the ocean like baby fish.

2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 47:

An animal of the phylum Echinodermata, comprising radially symmetric, spiny-skinned marine animals including seastars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, crinoids, and sand dollars.


crinoid

From Ancient Greek κρίνον (krínon, “lily”) + -oid.

One of the numerous animals that make up the class Crinoidea; the feather stars or sea lilies.


ophiuroid

Other ophiuroids are more delicate: they pick, feel and spread themselves over corals, gorgonians and other organisms like courtesans in feather boas.

2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 48:

An echinoderm of the class Ophiuroidea; the brittlestar.


brittle star

Recently, explorers discovered a seamount near Antarctica covered in tens of millions of brittle stars packed ray tip to ray tip, in a massive underwater ‘city’, alongside other strange species such as giant bubble gum coral.

Any of various echinoderms, of the class Ophiuroidea, that resemble starfish and have long, slender arms that regenerate when snapped off.


carpoid

(biology) Any of several classes of extinct echinoderm previously placed in the class †Carpoidea, now placed within the subphylum †Homalozoa.


sea star

From sea + star. Compare West Frisian seestjer (“sea star”), Dutch zeester (“sea star”), German Seestern (“sea star”), Danish søstjerne (“sea star”), Swedish sjöstjärna (“sea star”), Icelandic sjóstjarna (“sea star”).


sea lily

Any of several stalked crinoids, which use the stalk to fix themselves in the bottom of the sea.


basket star

Any brittle star, mostly with many-branched arms, that live in deep-sea habitats, of order Euryalida or suborder Euryalina in order Phrynophiurida.


blastoid

(paleontology) A member of an extinct class of echinoderms, the Blastoidea.


crinoidean

(archaic, zoology) Any of the Crinoidea.


asteroidian

But you remained conservative, A changeless asteroidian.

1932, California Poets: An Anthology of 244 Contemporaries, page 706:

Whatever else can be said about the world inhabited by Lesabéndio and his fellow asteroidians, this much is certain: their proper names derive from the first sounds they emit, not from a procedure of designation akin to the establishment of technical terms, and the laws governing the waxing and waning of their bodies are unlike those under which the bodies on the surface of the earth fall.

2011, Peter Fenves, The Messianic Reduction: Walter Benjamin and the Shape of Time, page 230:

What gags Flora is that Rod blew the Saturnienne to protect the asteroidians against North American culture , even though that cut him off from one wife, one concubine, and one son.

2014, E. Hoffmann Price, Operation Longlife, page 157:

(science fiction) One who is from or lives on an asteroid.


comatulid

(zoology) Any crinoid of the genus Antedon or allied genera in order Comatulida; a feather star.


ophiuran

en-adj

ophiuran (comparative more ophiuran, superlative most ophiuran)

more ophiuran (comparative)
most ophiuran (superlative)

(zoology, dated) Of or relating to the Ophiuroidea.


ophiuran

(zoology, dated) Any member of the echinoderm class Ophiuroidea; a brittle star.


crossfish

en-noun

crossfish (plural crossfishes or crossfish)


cystidean

(zoology, obsolete) Any of the †Cystidea, a class of extinct echinoderms, now known as the †Cystoidea.


benthopectinid

A sea star of the family Benthopectinidae


histocidarid

Any primitive sea urchin of the family Histocidaridae


isocrinid

Any crinoid (sea lily) of the order Isocrinida


ophiolepidid

Any brittle star of the family Ophiolepididae.


ophioleucinid

Any brittle star of the family Ophioleucidae


ophiure

From translingual genus name Ophiura (originally species name in Linnaeus), from New Latin ophiurus (“brittle star”), from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis, “serpent”) + οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) (referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star). This English form by conflation with suffix -ure (“result of an action; official procedure”).

SHORT-SPINED OPHIURE.

1815, William Elford Leach, Richard P. Nodder, The zoological miscellany, page 59:

In the Ophiure, the arms are of great length, and in Euryale, each arm, directly it stretches out beyond the body, divides into two branches, and these again into others, which again and again divide, assuming the appearance of interweaving branches of a tree, and which they employ for entangling their prey.

1845, Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, volume 7, page 269:

From the bottom of his nets a fisherman one day gave me three almost dying creatures, a sea hedgehog, a sea star, and another star, a pretty ophiure, which still moved and soon lost its delicate arms.

1864, The sea, translator unknown, original by M. J. Michelet, page 128

Their food consisted of shells, worms, and Ophiures.

1889, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, volume 15, Edinburgh: Royal Society, page 219:

Other symbionts found on the same host were: Lissoporcellana pectinata Haig (Porcellanidae), crabs Quadrella sp. (Trapeziidae), some specimens of spider-crab family Majidae, and ophiures (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea).

1990, Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemoslovacae, volume 54, Czechoslovak Zoological Society, page 3

As for the species level, ophiures Amphiodia urtica dominate.

1999, Oceanology, volume 39, American Geophysical Union, page 87:

Ophiures (Ophiocten gracialis Sars) and starfishes (Pontaster tenuispinus), inhabiting the bottom near the submarine «Komsomolets», contained similarly low levels of ⁶⁰Co (Kuznetsov et al., 1996, 1997a).

2004, Dmitry G. Matishov, Gennady G. Matishov, Radioecology in Northern European Seas, Springer, page 150:

(rare) Any echinoderm of the class Ophiuroidea


amphiurid

(zoology) Any brittle star in the family Amphiuridae.


antedonid

(zoology) Any of the crinoids in the family Antedonidae.


archasterid

(zoology) Any starfish in the family Archasteridae.


asteriid

(zoology) Any member of the family Asteriidae of sea stars.


asterinid

(zoology) Any in the family Asterinidae of sea stars.


astropectinid

(zoology) Any in the family Astropectinidae of starfishes.


bathycrinid

(zoology) Any crinoid in the family Bathycrinidae.


charitometrid

(zoology) Any crinoid in the family Charitometridae.


comasterid

(zoology) Any member of the family Comasteridae of feather stars.


echinasterid

(zoology) Any starfish in the family Echinasteridae.


echinometrid

(zoology) Any sea urchin in the family Echinometridae


goniasterid

(zoology) Any starfish in the family Goniasteridae


gorgonocephalid

(zoology) Any basket star in the family Gorgonocephalidae.


odontasterid

(zoology) Any starfish in the family Odontasteridae


ophiactid

(zoology) Any brittle star in the family Ophiactidae.


ophidiasterid

(zoology) Any starfish in the family Ophidiasteridae.


ophiocomid

(zoology) Any brittle star in the family Ophiocomidae.


ophiodermatid

(zoology) Any brittle star in the family Ophiodermatidae.


ophiothricid

From the taxonomic name Ophiothricidae, a misspelling of Ophiotrichidae, from the generic name Ophiothrix (from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis, “snake”) + Ancient Greek θρῐ́ξ (thrĭ́x, “hair”)) + translingual -idae
Why Ophiothricidae is a misspelling
According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, taxonomic family names are formed from the stem of the name of the type genus (Ophiothrix), which is the genitive singular form after the ending is removed.
The consonants in Ancient Greek θρῐ́ξ (thrĭ́x, “hair”) are due to the underlying χ (aspirated) in the stem becoming ξ (unaspirated) before the nominative singular ending, ς.
The genitive singular form is τρῐχός (trĭkhós) instead of *θρῐχός (*thrĭkhós), due to Grassman's Law, which deaspirates θ to τ when there is an aspirated consonant in the next syllable (the χ). The stem of Ophiothrix is thus "Ophiotrich-"

(zoology) Any brittle star in the family Ophiotrichidae.


oreasterid

(zoology) Any starfish in the family Oreasteridae.


psychocidarid

(zoology) Any sea urchin in the family Psychocidaridae.


rotulid

(zoology) Any sand dollar in the family Rotulidae


solasterid

(zoology) Any member of the family Solasteridae of sea stars.


eocrinoid

(zoology) Any member of the Eocrinoidea, an extinct class of echinoderms that lived between the Early Cambrian and Late Silurian periods.


sun star

sun stars (plural)
sunstar (alternative)

Any of various starfishes belonging to Solaster, Crossaster, and allied genera, having numerous rays.


rosy feather star

rosy feather star (plural rosy feather stars)

Antedon bifida, a crinoid in the family Antedonidae.


crown of thorns

crown of thorns (plural crowns of thorns)

/ˌkɹaʊn əv ˈθɔːnz/

Calque of Latin spinea corona, itself a calque of Hellenistic Ancient Greek ἀκάνθινος στέφανος (akánthinos stéphanos).

der

ἀκάνθινος στέφανος

crown-of-thorns starfish
crown-of-thorns starfish#English


serpent star

Ophiura ophiura, a brittle star in the order Ophiurida, typically found on coastal seabeds around northwestern Europe.


echinozoan

en-noun

echinozoan (plural echinozoa or echinozoans)

(zoology) Any echinoderm of the subphylum Echinozoa.


edrioasteroid

Hints and Miidel [15 ] reported encrustation by the edrioasteroid echinoderm Cyathocystis.

2015 July 29, “Bioerosion of Inorganic Hard Substrates in the Ordovician of Estonia (Baltica)”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:


asteroidean

Astaxanthin (ATX), one of the most common carotenoids, is widely distributed in the red pigment of shrimp, salmon, crab and asteroidean [ 1, 2 ].

2015 July 14, Li Zhang, Handong Wang, Orazio Taglialatela-Scafati, “Multiple Mechanisms of Anti-Cancer Effects Exerted by Astaxanthin”, in Marine Drugs, volume 13, →DOI:


asterozoan

asterozoan (plural asterozoa or asterozoans)

Any animal in the echinoderm subphylum Asterozoa, which includes the brittle stars, basket stars and starfish


bat star

Typically a scavenger, the bat star will also attack small white sea urchins.

1991, Martha Holmes, Sea Trek, BBC Books, page 78:

A species of starfish, Patiria miniata, characterised by webbing between its arms.


cinctan

Any fossil echinoderm of the class Homostelea


ctenocystoid

Any fossil ctenoid echinoderm of the class Ctenocystoidea


stylophoran

Any extinct animal of the class Stylophora


sand star

Luidia foliolata, a starfish in the family Luidiidae, found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean.


ophiacanthid

Any brittle star of the family Ophiacanthidae


caymanostellid

Any sea star of the family Caymanostellidae


forcipulatacean

Any sea star of the superorder Forcipulatacea


goniopectinid

Any sea star of the family Goniopectinidae


korethrasterid

Any starfish of the family Korethrasteridae


porcellanasterid

Any sea star of the family Porcellanasteridae


pterasterid

Any sea star of the family Pterasteridae


radiasterid

Any sea star of the family Radiasteridae


somasteroid

Any extinct starfish of the class Somasteroidea


stichasterid

Any sea star of the family Stichasteridae


zoroasterid

Any sea star of the family Zoroasteridae


helicoplacoid

Any extinct echinoderm of the class Helicoplacoidea


ophioleucin

Any brittle star of the subfamily Ophioleucinae


ophionereidid

Clipping of translingual Ophionereididae

clipping

translingual <i class="Latn mention" lang="mul">Ophionereididae</i>

Any brittle star of the family Ophionereididae


ophiuroidean

Any brittle star of the class Ophiuroidea


gnathophiurine

Any brittle star of the suborder Gnathophiurina


snakestar

A predatory starfish Astrotoma agassizii


snake tail

Ophiopsammus maculata - a reddish-brown starfish with five smooth, rounded, jointed arms, each tapered towards the tip growing up to 300 mm across. Commonly found amongst seaweed from low-tide to about 20 m depth throughout New Zealand.


devil's fingers

en-noun

devil's fingers pl (normally plural, singular devil's finger)

I removed the underside of the crab called its apron. I opened it up and removed the gills or “devil’s fingers.” And I removed its eyes and mouth.

1992 June 21, Rob Kasper, “To cut, or not to cut, the mustard”, in The Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, page 1G:

Next, remove the apron from the underside of the crab. Finally, Curtis says, you’ll need to lift up each side of the shell and remove the gills or the “devil’s fingers.”

2001 June 6, Patricia Talorico, “Just forget that it’s a whole crab; take a bite and enjoy that flavor”, in The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, page D1:

Once the shell is off, the crab’s gills or lungs, variously called “devil’s fingers” or “dead men” are exposed. These are gray-white, feathery-looking parts that are inedible and must be scraped off and thrown away.

2007 August 3, John Geiser, “Take rusties over jimmies when hunting for good-eatin’ crabs”, in Asbury Park Press, Asbury Park, New Jersey:

(informal, US) The gills of various species of crabs.


asteronychid

(zoology) Any brittle star in the family Coeloplanidae.


asterias

[…] which exhibits the under surface of an asterias; a shows the nervous circle around the mouth; b the smaller; c the central larger nervous branches to the rays of the body.

1828, The Westminster Review, volume 9, page 179:


synallactid

(zoology) Any echinoderm in the family Synallactidae.


crown-of-thorns starfish

crown-of-thorns starfish (plural crown-of-thorns starfishes or crown-of-thorns starfish)

crown-of-thorns starfishes (plural)
crown-of-thorns starfish (plural)

From the spines on the top of this starfish that resemble the biblical crown of thorns.

A large (25-35 cm full grown) starfish with venomous thornlike spines that cover its upper surface, Acanthaster planci.