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Jaina Biology
The echinoderms (Spiny-skinned ) which include the sea stars (Asteroidea), sea urchins (Echinoidea ), sea cucumbers (Holothroidea ), serpent stars ( Ophiuroidea ) and sea lilies (Crinoidea ) are a group of animals radically different from all other invertebrates. The reference to some sea animals haviag four sense-organs in Jaina Biology may suggest their identification with Echinodermata.
The foregoing description of the two-sensed, three-sensed and four-sensed animals (i. e. the Lower Invertebrates and the Higher Invertebrates ) as given in the Jaina works does not exhaust the great variety of the animals. In addition to these phyla, there are other groups of invertebrate, sometimes put in phyla of their own, sometimes classified under other phyla, e.g. some of the two-sensed animals, namely, Apādika (Vermes) without lateral appendages, Scolecides, Nūpurka (ring - like, with pendants, Vermes with unsegmented lateral appendages, Annelids), Gandūpada (Knotty-legged Arthropoda, including crustacea, Myriapoda, etc.) and Sankha (Conchifera, Lamelli branchiata), Suktika (pearl mussel, Lamelli branchiata ), Samvuka (Helix ) and Jalūkā (Leeches -- Annelids and some form of Mollusca have been classified under the phyla of the Higher Invertebrates.
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