Feather Star Quiz: Crinoids That Swim With Feathery Arms
This feather star quiz watches a delicate crinoid lift off the reef and swim. Play 10 interactive questions on their kinship with starfish, feathery arms that catch drifting food, a mouth that faces upward, clinging with small cirri, swimming by beating arms in turns, regrowing lost arms, stalked sea lily relatives and their long fossil history.
Start Feather Star Quiz
🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds
Group
What kind of animal is a feather star?
Arms
What are feather star arms covered in?
Feed
How do feather stars feed?
Mouth
Which way does a feather star's mouth face?
Grip
What do feather stars use to cling to rocks?
Swim
How do feather stars swim?
Regrow
What can they do if an arm is lost?
Lily
Which relatives stay attached on a stalk?
Fossils
What do crinoid fossils reveal?
Count
How many arms can some feather stars have?
Your score
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Scroll down to see the explanation for each question.
Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions
- Q1: What kind of animal is a feather star?
Answer: A crinoid echinoderm
Starfish are relatives.
- Q2: What are feather star arms covered in?
Answer: Feathery side branches
They catch food.
- Q3: How do feather stars feed?
Answer: By filtering drifting food from water
Particles stick to the arms.
- Q4: Which way does a feather star's mouth face?
Answer: Upward
It differs from starfish.
- Q5: What do feather stars use to cling to rocks?
Answer: Small claw-like cirri
They grip corals and sponges.
- Q6: How do feather stars swim?
Answer: By beating arms up and down in turns
It looks like a graceful dance.
- Q7: What can they do if an arm is lost?
Answer: Regrow it
Regeneration is common.
- Q8: Which relatives stay attached on a stalk?
Answer: Sea lilies
Many live in the deep sea.
- Q9: What do crinoid fossils reveal?
Answer: A very long history
Some limestones are full of them.
- Q10: How many arms can some feather stars have?
Answer: Dozens or even more
Many have around ten or more.
Swimming Feathers of the Reef
Feather stars are crinoids, echinoderms related to starfish and sea urchins. Their arms are covered in feathery side branches that catch drifting food from the water, and unlike starfish, their mouth faces upward. Many have ten arms, and some have dozens or more.
Feather stars cling to corals, sponges and rocks with small claw-like cirri, often climbing to high spots at night to feed in the current. They can also swim by beating their arms up and down in turns, a graceful movement. If an arm is lost, they can regrow it.
Their relatives, sea lilies, stay attached to the sea floor on stalks, many in deep water. Crinoids have a very long fossil history, and some limestones are packed with their remains.
What This Quiz Teaches
Ocean fans will enjoy these questions.
- What feather stars are
- How they feed
- How they cling and swim
- How they regrow arms
- Who their relatives are
Did You Know?
- Colors range from yellow to purple.
- Small shrimp hide among their arms.
- Divers see them often at night.
- They avoid strong light.
- Some species crawl across the sand.
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