Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Marine invertebrates, particularly echinoderms, have complex lifecycles featuring distinct, free-swimming ciliated larval stages.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
In the life cycle of a starfish (class Asteroidea):
- The fertilized egg develops first into a ciliated, bilaterally symmetrical bipinnaria larva.
- The bipinnaria then grows specialized adhesive arms/structures, transforming into the brachiolaria larva.
- The brachiolaria eventually settles on the substrate, attaches via its adhesive disk, and metamorphoses into a pentaradially symmetrical juvenile starfish.
Step 3: Final Answer:
Brachiolaria is the larval stage of the starfish, corresponding to option (B).