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After a complex series of changes the adult echinoderms are formed. They will abandon the plankton and live a life on the bottom of the sea. Adult sea urchins, starfish and brittlestars can be studied quite easily in tide pools. When you turn stones (do turn them back again!) you can find them.

The purple sea urchins depicted on this page do not only rely on their spines; they live embedded in the rock. The hollow they create just fits them so they are quite safe. On top of that they camouflage themselves with shells or other things they gather.

This gallery only gives a brief introduction to several types of echinoderm larvae. A more complete account on the development of echinoderm larvae can be found in the Micscape articles Growth of a starfish and The sea urchin, a stinging but amazing animal

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