Download Great Echinoderm Food Search

Standard Indicator
6.4.3
Great Echinoderm Food Search
Purpose
Students will describe the variety of body plans represented in the
Phylum Echinodermata that contribute to their being able to find food.
Materials
For the teacher: chalk, chalkboard
For each student: copy of Black Line Master (BLM) Echino Snacks,
pencil
For the class: research materials, pictures and/or specimens of Phylum
Echinodermata (e.g., brittle stars, sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars,
sea biscuits, crinoids, sea cucumbers, etc.), echinoderm video containing
footage of echinoderms feeding (e.g., National Geographic’s The Living
Ocean, AIMS Multimedia’s Beneath the South Pacific, etc.)
extending
THE
ACTIVITY
Have students research
the adaptations that
allow other animals to
acquire food, such as
the complicated mouth
parts of crustaceans and
lepidopterans (moths
and butterflies).
A. Pre-Activity Preparation
Display the pictures and/or specimens of Phylum Echinodermata
around the room. (Two helpful Web sites are: www.seasky.org/
reeflife/sea2d.html and www.calacademy.org/research/izg/
echinoderm.)
B. Pre-Activity Discussion
1. Ask students if cheetahs and jellyfish obtain their food in the
same way. Explain that both are predators, however, the
differences in their bodies determines how they each find food:
cheetahs are able to run very quickly to catch food while jellyfish
float until they come into contact with something they can eat.
2. Tell students that the body plan of an organism determines how
it will find its food.
3. Ask students if they have ever seen a sand dollar or sea urchin.
4. Write the word “Echinodermata” on the board and list some
examples of echinoderms next to it.
5. Tell students that all of these organisms belong to the Phylum
Echinodermata, which means spiny skin. Explain that they all
share a few characteristics, such as spiny skin, tube feet, a water
vascular system, pentaradial (five-part) symmetry and the ability
to regenerate. However, they have some very different
characteristics.
(continued)
Standard 4 / Activity 2
Indiana Science Grade 6 Curriculum Framework, October 2002
connecting
across the
curriculum
Visual Arts
Have students create a
life-size mural depicting
different echinoderms in
their environment and
how they feed.
Standards Link
6.4.6
page 141
Standard 4
Activity
Activity (continued)
6. Ask students if they think that all of the echinoderms listed
on the board can acquire their food in the same way.
C. Echinoderm Comparison
1. Divide students into pairs or small groups and pass out a copy
of the BLM Echino Snacks to each student.
2. Instruct students to look at the pictures and specimens around
the room and attempt to determine how each acquires its food.
3. Tell students to note on their BLMs how they think each
echinoderm acquires its food and to label the features of the
echinoderm that allow it to feed the way it does.
4. Have students watch the echinoderm video and write down
their observations about how various echinoderms feed.
Standard 4
D. Class Discussion
1. List each type of echinoderm from the BLM on the board.
2. Have students list how they think each feeds and what features
allow it to feed as it does on the board.
3. As a class, discuss which features of each echinoderm were
the most important in determining how it fed.
Classroom Assessment
Basic Concepts and Processes
After students have finished the BLM, ask questions such as the
following:
How does an organism’s physical features affect the way
it acquires food?
How did the [insert echinoderm] acquire its food? Did it have
special characteristics that allowed it to feed in that way?
How do you know?
page 142
Standard 4 / Activity 2
Indiana Science Grade 6 Curriculum Framework, October 2002
Name:
Echino Snacks
Sea Urchin
Sea Cucumber
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Sea Star
Brittle Star
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Standard 4 / Activity 2
Indiana Science Grade 6 Curriculum Framework, October 2002
Black Line Master 1
page 143
Echino Snacks
Teacher Directions
Show students the video on echinoderms and direct them to observe the specimens and pictures
of echinoderms. Have students list their observations and label the parts of the echinoderms that
are responsible for the way each organism feeds on the BLM Echino Snacks.
Answer Key
Student observations will vary, but could include the following:
ambulacral
grooves
tube feet
Aristotle’s
lantern
spines
tube feet
Sea Urchins have a special mouth called an
Aristotle’s lantern. It is comprised of five teeth
that move together to grasp the substrate.
Most urchins grasp algae off of rocks; however,
some are scavengers.
tentacles
Sea Cucumbers can feed in two ways. They may
extrude their tentacles, which they cover in sticky
mucus, to catch plankton and other organic
matter or they may ingest sand directly and
digest any organic matter present in the sand.
*Sea urchins and sea stars have ambulacral grooves that allow them to pass food particles caught
in their spines to their mouths.
ambulacral
grooves
mouth
tube feet
arms
mouth
Sea Stars use their thousands of tube feet
to latch onto and pry open bivalves. They
then extrude their stomach into the bivalve
and digest the animal inside its shell, where
it is then absorbed.
Black Line Master 1
page 144
spines
Brittle Stars are typically scavengers and use
their long arms to bring pieces of organic matter
to their mouths. Some have tiny spines on their
arms, which they can use to filter food with.
Basket stars have taken this approach to
extremes and possess wildly divided arms with
a great deal of surface area to catch plankton.
Standard 4 / Activity 2
Indiana Science Grade 6 Curriculum Framework, October 2002