Water Vascular System - Sea Stars

Sea Stars

In sea stars, water enters the system through a sieve-like structure on the upper surface of the animal, called the madreporite. This overlies a small sac, or ampulla connected to a duct termed the stone canal, which is, as its name implies, commonly lined with calcareous material. The stone canal runs to a circular ring canal, from which radial canals run outwards along the ambulacral grooves. Each arm of a sea star has one such groove on its underside, while, in sea urchins, they run along the outside of the body.

Each side of the radial canals gives rise to a row of bulb-like ampullae, which are connected via lateral canals. In sea stars these are always staggered, so that an ampulla on the left follows one on the right, and so on down the length of the radial canal. The ampullae are connected to suckerlike podia, the entire structure is called a tube foot. In most cases, the small lateral canals connecting the ampullae to the radial canal are of equal length, so that the tube feet are arranged in two rows, one along each side of the groove. In some species, however, there are alternately long and short lateral canals, giving the appearance of two rows on each side of the groove, for four in total.

Contraction of the ampullae causes the podia to stretch as water is brought into them. This whole process allows for movement, and is quite powerful but extremely slow.

The central ring canal, in addition to connecting the radial canals to each other and to the stone canal, also has a number of other specialised structures on the inner surface. In between each radial canal, in many sea star species, there lies a muscular sac called a polian vesicle. The radial canal also has four or five pairs of complex pouches, called Tiedemann's bodies. These apparently produce coelomocytes, amoeboid cells somewhat similar to the blood cells of vertebrates.

Although the contents of the water vascular system are essentially sea water, apart from coelomocytes, the fluid also contains some protein and high levels of potassium salts.