Echinoderms are common and conspicuous organisms of the intertidal region. Their body structure is modified to live on different substrata such as rocky shores, sandy beaches, muddy fiats, algal beds and coral reefs. Their concentration in the coral reefs is maximum. The author during the past twenty years has collected and studied echinoderms from various places along the Indian Coast and also from the coral reefs of the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep Islands. More than one hundred species belonging to all the five classes have been collected from the intertidal region of India. In this paper their adaptations, habits and their distribution in the intertidal region is discussed.