Phylum ctenophore

General characteristics
Phylum ctenophore
General description:

• The name ctenophore arises from greek words which mean comb bearing
• They are exclusively marine
• About 150 or so species are discovered so far
• Most of them are planktonic
• They have jelly like body.
• They range in size from few millimeters to upto 2 meters
• Careful molecular examination shows that ctenophores appearsed in 525 million
years ago in early Cambrian times.
• The position of ctenophores in the tree of life has long been debated in molecular
phylogenetic studies. some biologist believes that ctenophora arises earlier than
porifera and some says it arises after porifera.
Taxonomic history:

•In the field of taxonomy ctenophores play an important place but their position changes a lot
of times
•At first a doctor named Martens first discovered it in 1671
•Linneaus while doing the nomenclature placed it unde zoophyta
•Eschscholtz n 1829 first created a separate order for cteophore and placed it under
coelenterate because of its resemblance to this phylum
•Leuckart in the year 1847 to 1848 included the sponges among the order of ctenophora
•Hatschek in 1889 gave a separate status of phyla to ctenophore
•After becoming a phyla many scientist worked on this and found its classes which they named
as
•Class tentaculata
•Class nuda
•The most prominent scientist in this discovery were Hyman (1940), Marshall and Williams
(1972), Barnes (1981), Ruppert and Barnes (1994) and Pechnik (2000 )
 General description:

• This phyla have diversity from spherical to

flattened shape , from few centimeters to
meters in length
• Most ctenophores are colorless, but some
deep sea species are highly pigmented
(often colored similarly to the invertebrates
with which they are associated)
• Most of them show the phenomenon of
bioluminescense.
Body form:

• They have biradially symmetry with oral and aboral ends

• They are diploblastic organisms
• they have only two layers outer epidermis and inner
gastrodermis while inbetween both these layers they have
mesoglea which contain mesenchymal cells.
Digestive system:

• The mouth leads into a pharynx called a stomodeum, which serves

as a site for extracellular digestion.
• It goes through a stomach into a series of gastrovascular canals,
where digestion is completed intracellularly
Digestive system:
Circulatry and excretory system

• Excretory and Respiratory System• There are no functional

Excretory and Respiratory organs found in Ctenophores.
Nervous system

they have simple nervous system

Nervous system is n the form of sub epidermal nerve net
Developmental stages

• At lest one ctenophore species has a planula larval stage in its life
history.
• During embryogenesis, Ctenophores
form no distinct mesodermal layer.
Thus, they are termed as dipoblastic.
The ctene

• The Ctene• Each band of Cilia is fused to a ctene (Gk.Comb)

because of its resemblance to a comb.• The ctene is organized
into 8 distinct rowscalled costae which extends from the oral
tothe aboral surface of the animal.• The intensity of activity in
the different combrows is under the control of an apical
senseorgan at the aboral end of the ctenophore.Together with an
epidermal nerve, Itsynchronizes the coordination of ciliarybeating
in different comb rows.
colloblast
Comb plates
bioluminescense
Food capturing

• Mechanism and Mode of Food capture• The tentacles of ctenophores

can be completely retracted into proximal pits or sheaths, unlike that
of the cnidarians.• Its general epidermis are studded with colloblasts,
whereas the tentacles of cnidarians are surfaced with nematocysts.
Each colloblast cell consists of a bulbous,sticky head connected to a
long, straightfilament. Prey organisms become stuck to thetentacles
which are then retracted. In otherspecies, the body rotates to bring
the mouth incontact with the tentacles. • In other species, the body
surface are used as the major organ of food collection. The body
surface area is increased by lateral compression and is major areas
are coated with a sticky mucus and colloblast cells.Back
Means of Food Digestion and Waste
Elimination

• • Ctenophores have 4 digestive canals which lead from the roof of

the stomach to the animal’s aboral surface. 2 of these digestive
canal terminate as blind sacs, while the other 2 canals open wide
outside.Undigested wastes are discharged through anal pores .
Cnidarians, on the other hand, has but one opening which serves
as both mouth and anus
Ctenophore cleavage

• Ctenophore cleavage is highly determinate; cell fates are fixed at

the first cell division. Cell fates of Cnidarian embryos become
fixed later in development.• Gastrulation,or the formation of
distinct inner and outer germs, are achieve by ctenophores either
by epiboly or by invagination. Cnidarians gastrulate either through
the process of delamination or by ingression• Ctenophore embryos
develop directly into a cydippid, while Cnidarians develop into a
ciliated planula larva.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

• The introduction of the North American species Mnemiopsis leidyi

into the Black Sea in the early 1980s, most likely in ballast water
from ships originating in the northwestern Atlantic, completely
disrupted this ecosystem's natural food chain.
classification