BLASTOID

any member of an extinct class (Blastoidea) of echinoderms, animals related to the modern starfish and sea lilies, that existed from the Middle Ordovician to the Late Permian periods (from 478 to 245 million years ago). Blastoids were sedentary animals anchored to the seafloor by a stemlike column of circular plates. Unlike other echinoderms, blastoids were characterized by a regularity of structure; the blastoid body region consisted of 13 plates of calcium carbonate, an external framework, or skeleton, arranged in 3 circles about the body. Some blastoids are useful as index, or guide, fossils that allow the correlation of rock units; the genus Pentremites is especially well known and common.