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Pacific sea nettles, Chrysaora fuscescens. Cnidaria (/ n ɪ ˈ d ɛər i ə, n aɪ-/ nih-DAIR-ee-ə, NY-) [4] is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species [5] of aquatic invertebrates found both in fresh water and marine environments (predominantly the latter), including jellyfish, hydroids, sea anemones, corals and some of the smallest marine parasites.
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.
Hence ctenophores and cnidarians have traditionally been labelled diploblastic. [18] [20] Both ctenophores and cnidarians have a type of muscle that, in more complex animals, arises from the middle cell layer, [21] and as a result some recent text books classify ctenophores as triploblastic, [22] while others still regard them as diploblastic. [18]
The cnidae, the explosive cells characteristic of the Cnidaria and used in prey capture and defence, are of a single type, there being nematocysts but no spirocysts or ptychocysts. [4] In contrast, the anthozoan life cycle involves a planula larva which settles and becomes a sessile polyp, which is the adult or sexual phase. [11]
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.
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.
Cnidarians include corals, sea anemones, jellyfish and hydrozoans. They form a phylum containing over 10,000 [ 32 ] species of animals found exclusively in aquatic (mainly marine) environments. Their bodies consist of mesoglea , a non-living jelly-like substance, sandwiched between two layers of epithelium that are mostly one cell thick .
A polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are roughly cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the vase -shaped body. In solitary polyps, the aboral (opposite to oral) end is attached to the substrate by means of a disc-like holdfast called a pedal disc , while in colonies ...