Our Relative, The Starfish

Man and other mammals are vertebrates, animals with backbones. And all vertebrates belong to the scientific family called Chordata, animals with a rod-like structure that supports the body. The chordates and the echinoderms - creatures such as starfish and sea urchins - diverged into separate evolutionary paths at least 500 million years ago. But scientists believe that both groups descended from a common ancestor - making the starfish one of man’s oldest living relatives.