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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.
Unlike some other cnidarian groups, the lining of the central cavity lacks stinging nematocysts, which are found only on the tentacles and outer surface. All colonial hydrozoans also include some polyps specialized for reproduction. These lack tentacles and contain numerous buds from which the medusoid stage of the life cycle is produced.
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]
The developmental stages of scyphozoan jellyfish's life cycle: 1–3 Larva searches for site 4–8 Polyp grows 9–11 Polyp strobilates 12–14 Medusa grows. Most species appear to be gonochorists, with separate male and female individuals. The gonads are located in the stomach lining, and the mature gametes are expelled through the mouth ...
Cnidarians are united by the common characteristic of having a specialized cell called a cnidocyte, which contains an explosive organelle called a cnidocyst, or stinging cell. [1] In Hydrozoans, the cnidocysts are formed from interstitial stem cells in the ectoderm [ 14 ] and are used for prey capture and anti-predator defense.
Similarities between myxozoan polar capsules and cnidarian nematocysts had been drawn for a long time, but were generally assumed to be the result of convergent evolution. Taxonomists now recognize the outdated subgroup Actinosporea as a life-cycle phase of Myxosporea. [25]
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 ...
The life cycle of Cassiopea xamachana alternates between a polyp phase and the medusa phase. Gametes are released by the medusae into the water and the fertilized eggs hatch into planula larvae, which attach to the sea bed or some other suitable substrate . [ 4 ]