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Hydra has a tubular, radially symmetric body up to 10 mm (0.39 in) long when extended, secured by a simple adhesive foot known as the basal disc. Gland cells in the basal disc secrete a sticky fluid that accounts for its adhesive properties. At the free end of the body is a mouth opening surrounded by one to twelve thin, mobile tentacles.
There are about 1,200 species worldwide. [1] These hydrozoans always have a polyp stage. Their hydranths grow either solitary or in colonies. There is no firm perisarc around the polyp body. The medusae, or jellyfish, are solitary animals, with tentacles arising from the bell margin, lacking statocysts but possessing radial canals.
Burgessomedusa from the mid-Cambrian Burgess Shale is the oldest known free-living medusa (commonly known as jellyfish). [9] The affinities of the class Polypodiozoa, containing the single species Polypodium hydriforme, have long been unclear. This species is an endoparasite of fish eggs and has a peculiar life
Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies, are the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals, although a few are anchored to the seabed by stalks rather
The medusae of hydrozoans are smaller than those of typical jellyfish, ranging from 0.5 to 6 cm (0.20 to 2.36 in) in diameter. Although most hydrozoans have a medusoid stage, this is not always free-living and in many species exists solely as a sexually reproducing bud on the surface of the hydroid colony.
The new species of jellyfish is considered “relatively large,” its body reaching just over 1 inch in height and its tentacles measuring over 2 inches in length, the study said.
Coelenterata is a term encompassing the animal phyla Cnidaria (corals, true jellies, sea anemones, sea pens, and their relatives) and Ctenophora (comb jellies). The name comes from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos) 'hollow' and ἔντερον (énteron) 'intestine', referring to the hollow body cavity common to these two phyla.
Incredibly well-preserved fossils of the oldest swimming jellyfish, which lived 505 million years ago, were discovered at a famed fossil site in Canada.