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How do brittle stars regenerate after their bodies divide?

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Study the different ways mushrooms release spores and watch mold hyphae spread across bread — Reproduction Fungi produce billions of spores that give rise to new generations of fungi.

Brittle stars (subclass Ophiuroidea) are capable of asexual reproduction through fragmentation, a process where the body divides into two or more parts, followed by the regeneration of the missing sections.1

For this process to be successful, the animal must be able to seal its wounds and possess specific body components in the separated pieces. Many brittle stars can only regenerate a lost portion if a part of the central disk remains attached to the fragment. While brittle stars are well known for their ability to regrow arms that have been broken off, the regeneration of a whole organism from a fragment is dependent on this presence of disk tissue. Once these conditions are met, the organism is able to regrow the missing structures, effectively restoring its body.12