Basket stars are a group of brittle stars. They are treated as a suborder Euryalina or order Euryalida. Many of them have characteristic many-branched arms. They generally live in deep sea habitats.

The basket stars are the largest ophiuroids (Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni can measure up to 70 cm in arm length with a disk diameter of 14 cm).

Systematics and phylogeny

An early Mesozoic origin has been suggested for basket stars, based on a combined morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence. In spite of this, the fossil record of this group is rather poor and only dates back to Carboniferous. Basket stars are divided into the following families:

• Asteronychidae
• Asteroschematidae
• Gorgonocephalidae
• Euryalidae

References