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even toxins. The varied and often vivid colours of echinoderms are produced by
the action of skin pigment cells. These are produced by a variable combination of
coloured pigments, such as the dark melanin, red carotinoids, and carotene
proteins, which can be blue, green, or violet. These may be light-sensitive, and as
a result many echinoderms change appearance completely as night falls. The
reaction can happen quickly the sea urchin Centrostephanus longispinus
changes from jet black to grey-brown in just fifty minutes when exposed to light.
[19]
dorsal tube feet to the surface of the sand or mud above and use them to absorb
oxygen from the water column.[25]