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Anthozoa is a class of marine invertebrates which includes sessile cnidarians such as the sea anemones, stony corals, soft corals and sea pens. Adult anthozoans are almost all attached to the seabed , while their larvae can disperse as planktons .
Hexacorallia is a class of Anthozoa comprising approximately 4,300 species of aquatic organisms formed of polyps, generally with 6-fold symmetry. It includes all of the stony corals, most of which are colonial and reef-forming, as well as all sea anemones, and zoanthids, arranged within five extant orders. [2]
Octocorallia (also known as Alcyonaria) is a class of Anthozoa comprising over 3,000 species [1] of marine organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans and sea whips) within three orders: Alcyonacea, Helioporacea, and Pennatulacea. [2]
Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Hexacorallia. As cnidarians, sea anemones are related to corals, jellyfish, tube-dwelling anemones, and Hydra. Unlike jellyfish, sea anemones do not have a medusa stage in their life cycle.
Aiptasia is a genus of a symbiotic cnidarian belonging to the class Anthozoa (sea anemones, corals). Aiptasia is a widely distributed genus of temperate and tropical sea anemones of benthic lifestyle typically found living on mangrove roots and hard substrates.
Tube-dwelling anemones or ceriantharians look very similar to sea anemones but belong to an entirely different class of anthozoans. They are solitary, living buried in soft sediments. They are solitary, living buried in soft sediments.
Sea pens are marine cnidarians belonging to the order Pennatulacea, which are colony-forming benthic filter feeders within the class Octocorallia (subphylum Anthozoa).There are 14 families within the order and 35 extant genera; it is estimated that of 450 described species, around 200 are valid.
Zoanthids can be distinguished from other colonial anthozoans and soft coral by their characteristic of incorporating sand and other small pieces of material into their tissue to help make their structure (except for the family Zoanthidae). A main characteristic of the order is that their tentacles are all marginal.