Y L U M

PH a
C n i d a r i
Presented by:
Joana Patrice B. Go
It includes soft-bodied stinging animals such as corals, sea
anemones, and jellyfish
The smallest hydra and jelly species are barely visible
without a microscope, while lion's mane jellies have
tentacles over 100 feet long.
They also display a range of colors and patterns.
Can be found all over the world and mostly in marine
environments (there are some freshwater species).
They exist in a cylindrical polyp
form or in a medusa form, which
resembles a flattened bell or
umbrella.
All cnidarians exhibit radial
symmetry
They lack true organs but possess
muscle cells, nerve cells, and
structural proteins. While they lack
a central nervous system, they have
a network of nerves in their outer
layer called a nerve net.
Cnidarians are carnivores, meaning they must consume other animals to
survive.
Cnidarians reproduce both sexually and asexually.
Sexual reproduction occurs when adult animals release gametes, or eggs
and sperm, into the water column. The fertilized eggs develop into larva,
or planula, that attach to a surface in the water and grow into polyps.
Asexually, by budding or fragmentation
CLASS
HYDROZOA
 Hydrozoa

Most hydrozoans are marine, a very few species live in

freshwater, are most abundant and diverse in warm shallow
waters, probably as a reflection of food abundance and
except perhaps heavy surf zones.
Most hydrozoans are predators or filter-feeders, though a few
have symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae), in the same way that
other groups of cnidarians do.
They form colonies of asexual polyps and free-swimming
sexual medusae.
 Hydrozoa

Planulae are radially symmetric ovoids, often

covered with flagellate cells for swimming

Hydrozoans have special ectodermal cells called

cnidocytes, each containing a single intracellular
structure called a cnida (aka nematocyst).
Internal space for digestion is the gastrovascular
cavity.
 Polyps

Polyps are radially symmetric, and may be urn-

shaped, conical, cylindrical, or club-shaped.
In most species they are only a few millimeters
tall, though the largest grow up to many
centimeters, and one, Branchiocerianthus imperator
can be 2 meters tall.
 Medusa

The medusa is the sexually reproducing stage in

most hydrozoans.
They are often formed by budding from polyps,
and are usually solitary free-swimming
organisms.
Medusa are usually small, usually 1-50 mm in
diameter, though a few are larger, the largest
(genus g. Rhacostoma) grow to 400 mm in
diameter.
 Polyp &
Medusa

Their main body part is the umbrella, a bell or

cone shaped gelatin-filled structure, which floats
with the opening down.
Both polyps and medusae have networks of
nerves, but no brain or central ganglion. Some
have light-sensitive structures called ocelli, and
many have statocysts that allow them to detect
gravity and their orientation
SCYPHOZOA
Scyphozoans live in all oceans, from the
Arctic to tropical waters. Some inhabit the
deep sea, but most live near the coastal
waters.
They have radial symmetry and are
diploblastic, meaning that their body wall
consists of the outer epidermis (ectoderm)
and the inner gastrodermis (endoderm),
which are separated by mesoglea.
Scyphozoan polyps and medusae exhibit
no cephalization and contain no brain, but
in some species, light-sensitive eyespots
are located along the bell margin of the
medusa
Scyphozoan medusae differ from those of
hydrozoans in lacking a velum whichis termed
a scyphomedusa.

It locomotes by contracting and relaxing

muscles of the bell. Contraction pushes
water out, propelling the jelly in jet-like
fashion

Nematocysts on the oral arms are used for

defense and for capturing prey
ANTHOZOA
Includes a variety of animals that have polyps with a
flower-like appearance.
In these forms, the gastrovascular cavity is large. It is
divided by walls or septa, which arise as folds from
the body wall.

Reefs are formed by the calcareous skeletons of many

generations of coral polyps. The polyps inhabit only
the surface of the reefs.
Include sea anemones, a variety of corals, sea fans,
and sea pens.
Sea anemones, tend to be brightly colored. Most
species live in warm water. They feed on fishes, which
are caught by means of the numerous nematocysts in
their tentacles.
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