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Basket stars, sometimes referred to as a Shetland Argus , are a taxon of brittle stars. They are treated as a suborder Euryalina or order Euryalida.〔Smith, A.B.; Paterson, G.L.J. . Ophiuroid phylogeny and higher taxonomy: morphological, molecular and palaeontological perspectives. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 114 (1995)〕 Many of them have characteristic repeatedly branched arms. They generally live in deep sea habitats. In the wild they may live up to 35 years. They weigh up to . Like other echinoderms, basket stars lack blood and achieve gas exchange via their water vascular system. The basket stars are the largest ophiuroids with ''Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni'' measuring up to 70 cm in arm length with a disk diameter of 14 cm.〔Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, vol 1, Gale Cengage 2003〕 ==Systematics and phylogeny== The fossil record of this group is rather poor and only dates back to Carboniferous.〔E.Clarkson, E. N.K. Clarkson, Invertebrate Palaeontology and Evolution. Wiley-Blackwell; 4.ed. (1998)〕 Basket stars are divided into the following families: *Asteronychidae *Asteroschematidae *Gorgonocephalidae *Euryalidae 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「basket star」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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