The madreporite is an opening used to filter water into the water vascular system of echinoderms. The water vascular system is a hydraulic system used by Echinoderms such as Starfish and Sea urchins for locomotion food and waste transportation and Echinoderms (Phylum Echinodermata) are a phylum of marine Animals (including Sea stars) It is visible as a small red or yellow button-like structure, looking like a small wart, on the aboral surface of the central disk of a starfish. Starfish (also called sea stars) are any Echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea.

The water vascular system of the starfish consists of a series of seawater-filled ducts that function in locomotion and feeding. Its main parts are the madreporite, the stone canal, the ring canal, the radial canals, the lateral canals, and the tube feet. Tube feet are the many small tubular projections found most famously on the ventral face of a Starfish 's arms but are characteristic of the Water vascular system The sieve-like madreporite allows entry of seawater into the stone canal, which connects to the ring canal around the mouth. Five or more radial canals extend from the ring canal, one in each arm above the ambulacral groove. From the radial canals extend many lateral canals, each of which leads to a tube foot. Each tube foot is a closed cylinder with muscular walls, having a sucker at the outer end and a bulb-like ampulla at its inner end within the body cavity.

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