FEATHER STAR

any of the 550 living species of crinoid marine invertebrates of the phylum Echinodermata lacking a stalk. The arms, which have feathery fringes, usually number five. Feather stars usually attach themselves to a surface or to some floating object and feed on drifting microorganisms, trapping them in the sticky arm grooves. Feather stars occur chiefly on rocky bottoms in shallow water. They are most abundant from the Indian Ocean to Japan, where Tropiometra is the commonest genus. Antedon is the best known genus in the Atlantic.