Other Echinoderms (Holothurioidea and Crinoidea)
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of around 20 sea cucumbers (Holothurioidea) and one feather star (Crinoidea), plus glass models of sea cucumbers and of a sea lily (Crinoidea). These date from between 1900 and 1987.
The sea cucumbers are preserved in spirit. They are from British waters. Several are deep-sea specimens collected in the mid-1970s by Dr Dietrich L. Burkel, the Deputy Keeper of Natural History at Kelvingrove Museum, on the research vessels RRS Challenger and Walther Herwig, while others were collected by scuba divers during surveys in the 1980s. The feather star was collected from Scottish waters. The glass models are by Blaschka of Dresden and they show sea cucumbers and the development of a sea lily.
About sea cucumbers, feather stars and sea lilies
Sea cucumbers are elongated echinoderms (marine invertebrates). They have a mouth at one end and are generally scavengers that feed on the sea floor. There are around 1,700 species worldwide. Feather stars and sea lilies are part of an ancient group of echinoderms that are commonly found as fossils. Today there are around 600 species worldwide. - Broader term
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