Starfish Starfish Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or "basket stars". About 1,500 species of starfish occur on the seabed in all the world's oceans, from the tropics to frigid polar waters. They are found from the intertidal zone down to abyssal depths, below the surface. Starfish are marine invertebrates. They typically have a central disc and five arms, though some species have a larger number of arms. The aboral or upper surface may be smooth,
Chloroflexi (phylum) the members of the phylum Chloroflexi are monoderms, but stain mostly Gram negative. The taxon name was created in the 2001 edition of Volume 1 of Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology and is the Latin plural of the name "Chloroflexus", the name of the type genus of the phylum, a common practice. In 1987, Carl Woese, regarded as the forerunner of the molecular phylogeny revolution, divided Eubacteria into 11 divisions based on 16S ribosomal RNA (SSU) sequences and grouped the genera "Chloroflexus", "Herpetosiphon" and "Thermomicrobium" into the "Green non-sulfur bacteria and relatives", which was temporarily renamed as "Chloroflexi" in Volume