Invertebrate Comparative Anatomy

Periphera

Cnidaria

Annelida

Mollusca

Arthropoda

Body Plan

Asymmetrical

Radial
Symmetry
gastrovascular cavity

Bilateral
Symmetry
Coelom

Bilateral
Symmetry

Bilateral
Symmetry

Feeding

Filter feeders, Filter feed,

digest
extracellularly
intracellularly. In
gastrovascular cavity
paralyze prey
with
cnidocytes

Filter feeders
to predators,
they use the
pharynx, and
pharynx is
covered in
mucus, full
digestive
system

Herbivores,
Carnivore,
Filter Feeder,
Detritivores,
and Parasites
Snails/ Slugs
use a long
tongue called
radula to
obtain food

Blood
suckers,
Filter feeders,
Parasites,
Detritivores
Pincers/
Mandibles

Others use
siphon
feather like
things to suck
water in and
trap plankton
Respiration

Diffuse into
the water

diffusion
through body

Diffusion

GIlls
Land
mollusks
through O2
diffuse
through
mantle

Through the
sides of the
body tubes
called
spiracles/
book lungs

Circulation

Through the
motion of the
ocean

Diffusion

Closed
circulatory
system
Blood vessels
and aortic
arch

Either open
or closed
Open has a
simple heart
and travels
throughout
sinuses
Closed is
much faster

Open
circulatory
system

Excretion

Diffuse out
through body

Diffusion
through the
body walls

Two kinds,
digestive
waste
through the

release
through
nitrogen
containing

they use
malpighian
tubes that
extract waste

anus and
cellular waste
by the
nephridia

waste in a
form of
ammonia

from the
bloodstream

Response

Produce
Toxins for
protection
against other
organisms

Nerve net
that reacts to
foreign
substances
that touch it

Consists of
brain and
several nerve
cords,
centralization
and
cephalization

simple
nervous
system, able
to respond to
environment
nerve cords,
ganglia,
chemical
receptors

brain like a
on and off
circuit system
sophisticated
sense

Reproduction

Asexually/
Sexually
external
fertilization

Asexually/
Sexually
external
fertilization
gonads

Sexually, but
some are
hermaphrodit
es fertilize
their own
eggs

sexually,
externally
and internally

internal
reproduction
aquatic
internal/exter
nal

Sponges Paragraph
Sponges are good habitats because for other organisms because they help filter waste out of
the water. Sponges and crustaceans share a beneficiary relationship. Sponges help disguise
the mollusks and also can emit a toxin to ward off predators. In turn, the crustaceans take the
sponges into clean water where it is easier to survive.

Jellyfish Paragraph
Porifera animals have no vital organs. Cnidaria have evolved to include most vital organs
except do circulatory or respiratory systems. Instead, they use diffusion for respiration,

circulation, and excretion. Cnidaria reproduction is achieved by external fertilization and sexual
and asexual reproduction. They feed by paralyzing their prey and eating them in their
gastrovascular cavity extracellularly. They have also evolved to a bilateral symmetry body plan.

Worm Paragraph
In earthworms, there are organs present. They have seven types of systems; they have the
respiratory, muscular, circulatory, excretory, digestive, nervous, and reproductive system. The
earthworm is segmented, and all of its organs lay in a fluid-filled cavity called the coelom.
Compared to cnidaria and porifera, the annelida phylum has advanced by becoming cephalized
(when important/specialized organs become concentrated in one area of an organism).

Squid Paragraph
Mollusks have a body wall protecting a body cavity. The vital organs are located inside of the
body cavity. This means that they are coelomate. Mollusks are also bilaterally symmetrical.
They also possess a one-way gut - meaning food is taken in through one exit and waste exits a

separate exit. Also, mollusks are non-segmented.

Grasshopper paragraph
Arthropods have open circulatory systems, which means that blood is confined into vessels in
only part of the entire system. Their body is segmented and consists of a head, thorax, and a
body. What stands out about the grasshoppers anatomy is that they have jointed appendages
on both legs. This helps for walking and jumping. Arthropods have also evolved to have an
exoskeleton. The segmentation seen in previous invertebrates has fused together in arthropods
to form three distinct segments; the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. Arthropods are also
highly encephalized - intricate mouthparts, compound eyes, and delicate sensory feelers all
being in the head portion of an arthropod.