Echinoderms are marine animals usually with a spiny exterior, tube feet and a special pentamerous symmetry, such as sea stars (starfish), sea urchins, brittle stars, feather stars and sea cucumbers.
All echinoderms live in the sea, where they can dominate some seafloor habitats, particularly in the deep sea.
The Museum Victoria Echinoderm Collection is either preserved in 70% ethanol or dried, often after initially being fixed using formalin. All recently collected material is preserved directly in 70–95% ethanol so that specimens can be used for genetic research.
The collection is of national and international significance, having the most extensive deep collection of any museum in Australia, along with extensive collections from southern Australia and throughout the Southern Ocean and Tasman Sea. Most of the collection from southern Australia has been identified, with representatives of almost every species.
The deep-sea ophiuroid and holothurian collections are extensive enough to be used for Australia-wide bioregionalisation projects – the only marine invertebrate groups currently in this category.
Significant items
- 176 lots of type specimens from Australia, New Zealand, the Tasman Sea and the Southern Ocean.
- The most extensive collection of echinoderms in an Australian museum from Victoria, the south-eastern Australian continental shelf and slope, the Tasman Sea, around Heard Island, and off eastern Antarctica.
- A significant number of ‘unfixed’ specimens suitable for genetic analysis.