5, see text The Velatida are an order of sea stars containing about 200 species in five families.

These sea stars normally have thick bodies with large discs.

Their skeleton is weakly developed, which confers them a good flexibility, and numerous papillae on the aboral surface allow them to breathe in poorly oxygenated waters.

[2] New molecular evidence now suggests a relationship between some velatid and valvatid families.

List of families according to World Register of Marine Species:[3]