Madreporite

Madreporite

The madreporite is an opening used to filter water into the water vascular system of echinoderms. It is visible as a small red or yellow button-like structure, looking like a small wart, on the aboral surface of the central disk of a starfish.

The water vascular system of the starfish consists of a series of seawater-filled ducts that function in locomotion and feeding. Its main parts are the madreporite, the stone canal, the ring canal, the radial canals, the lateral canals, and the tube feet. The sieve-like madreporite allows entry of seawater into the stone canal, which connects to the ring canal around the mouth. Five or more radial canals extend from the ring canal, one in each arm above the ambulacral groove. From the radial canals extend many lateral canals, each of which leads to a tube foot. Each tube foot is a closed cylinder with muscular walls, having a sucker at the outer end and a bulb-like ampulla at its inner end within the body cavity.


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  • Madreporite — Mad re*po*rite, n. [Cf. F. madr[ e]porite] 1. (Paleon.) A fossil coral. [1913 Webster] 2. (Zo[ o]l.) The madreporic plate of echinoderms. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • madreporite — s. f. 1.  [Zoologia] Placa madrepórica dos equinodermos. 2.  [Mineralogia] Madrépora fóssil. • Sinônimo geral: MADREPORITA   ♦ Grafia no Brasil: madreporita …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • madreporite — [ma′drə pôr′īt΄] n. [ MADREPORE + ITE1] a porous calcareous plate in most echinoderms, through which the sea enters the water vascular system: see STARFISH, illus …   English World dictionary

  • madreporite — noun Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary madrepore + 1 ite (segment); from the resemblances of the perforations to those of a madrepore Date: 1877 a perforated or porous body that is situated at the distal end of the stone canal in… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • madreporite — n. [L. mater, mother; porus, pore] (ECHINODERMATA) An oral or aboral perforated plate of the water vascular system connecting with the stone canal; sieve plate …   Dictionary of invertebrate zoology

  • madreporite — /mad reuh pawr uyt, pohr , meuh drep euh ruyt /, n. a sievelike plate in certain echinoderms, through which water passes into the vascular system. [1795 1805; MADREPORE + ITE1] * * * …   Universalium

  • madreporite — noun A fossil coral …   Wiktionary

  • Madréporite — Les madréporites sont des ouvertures situées sur la plaque madréporitique des échinodermes : elles font ainsi communiquer le système aquifère de l animal avec le milieu (l eau de mer), leur permettant de respirer et d assurer la régulation… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • madréporite — (ma dré po ri t ) s. f. Madrépore fossile.    Variété de carbonate calcaire …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

  • madreporite — ma·dre·po·rì·te s.f. TS zool. in molti Echinodermi, piastra formata da una serie di stratificazioni calcaree attraversate da uno o più fori che permettono il passaggio dell acqua tra l interno e l esterno {{line}} {{/line}} DATA: 1806. ETIMO: der …   Dizionario italiano

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