Question

A species of these organisms that act as pests in one ecosystem are injected with bile salts using autonomous drones like RangerBot. A relaxin-like peptide hormone found in these organisms called “gonad-stimulating substance” makes them a useful model to study oocyte maturation. They aren’t deer, but two recent (10[1])studies have disproved the theory that the densovirus (-5[1])SSaDV caused a mysterious “wasting disease” in these (10[1])organisms. (-5[2])The (-5[1])Triton Snail is one of the few (-5[1])natural predators capable of containing outbreaks (-5[1])of (10[1])a (10[1])corallivorous type of these animals in the genus (10[2])Acanthaster. (-5[1])Studying the (10[1])purple (10[1])Pisaster (10[4])genus (10[1]-5[1])of these animals (10[1])in rocky intertidal ecosystems (10[2]-5[1])led Robert (10[1])Paine (-5[1])to coin the term “keystone species.” (10[2])For 10 points, what echinoderms are named (-5[1])for having five arms? (10[1])■END■ (10[13])

ANSWER: starfish [or sea stars; accept Asteroidea; accept specific species like purple sea star or common sea star or crown-of-thorns sea star; accept Acanthaster planci until read; prompt on Asterozoa; prompt on echinodermata; reject “brittle stars”]
<Carnegie Mellon A, Biology>
= Average correct buzz position

Summary

California2025-02-01Y3100%0%67%102.33
Florida2025-02-01Y3100%0%0%101.00
Midwest2025-02-01Y6100%0%50%110.17
Overflow2025-02-01Y5100%0%40%105.20
Pacific Northwest2025-02-01Y2100%0%50%112.50
South Central2025-02-01Y2100%0%0%116.00
Southeast2025-02-01Y3100%0%33%112.67
UK2025-02-01Y1090%0%20%92.33

Buzzes

PlayerTeamOpponentBuzz PositionValue
Agnijo BanerjeeCambridge ACambridge C4710
Parker McCoigTennessee AAlabama A55-5
Anuttam RamjiUC Berkeley BUCSD6310
Sharath NarayanNorthwestern ANorthwestern B64-5
Owen AshbrookIowaGeorgetown B64-5
Fahim AfzalCambridge DImperial B65-5
June YinWashU BChicago C72-5
Braden BoothMissouriIndiana B78-5
Chris LevesleyWarwick ASouthampton B7910
Joel CrossleyManchesterImperial A8010
Khanh NguyenFlorida AUCF B8810
Freddy PottsSheffieldOxford C8810
Liam StarnesChicago BWashU A89-5
Arya KarthikOxford ALSE9110
Shardul ParthasarathyIllinois BChicago A9210
Qingyu ZhangFlorida BFlorida State A9310
Andrew WangIllinois AIllinois C9310
Michał GerasimiukStanford BNotre Dame B9310
Cole HartungGeorgetown ANotre Dame C9310
Bennett GrapponeAlbertaUW A94-5
Jack LewisBruin AGeorgia Tech D9410
Stan MelkumianPurdueNotre Dame A9710
Annika LarsonClaremont BUC Berkeley A101-5
Adam IqbalDurhamCambridge E10110
Tobin PayneWarwick BSouthampton A10110
Lucas MansfieldUW BUBC10310
Kevin ParkClaremont AUCLA104-5
Jacob HarlMissoui S&TIndiana A11010
Bryce CruiseTexas AASU11010
Ben LaFondCambridge BBristol117-5
Amanda ZhaoGeorgetown BIowa12110
Eve FleisigUC Berkeley AClaremont B12210
Kaiser XiaoUCLAClaremont A12210
Clete ReinbergerValencia AUCF C12210
Collin NadarajahWashU AChicago B12210
Trenton BurgessIndiana BMissouri12210
Megan HaChicago CWashU B12210
Stephen WalshNorthwestern BNorthwestern A12210
Catherine WelchUW AAlberta12210
Tony LiangTAMUTexas B12210
Harris BecknerAlabama ATennessee A12210
Arunn SankarGeorgia Tech BLouisville A12210
James ByrneBristolCambridge B12210
Eugenia TongImperial BCambridge D12210
Elliot CosnettOxford BNYU C1260
Jacob Hardin-BernhardtNYU COxford B1260