Animal blueprints

A survey of animal body plans

Introduction
The study of animals is one of the most compelling aspects of biology- partly
because of the remarkable diversity of form and function within this taxon, but also
because some of the most intriguing and charismatic organisms are animals. Perhaps we
also enjoy studying them because we are animals too (as we'll see in two weeks, we are
highly modified bony fish!).

From an evolutionary perspective, animals likely evolved about 600 million years
ago from colonial flagellated protists. The earliest animals would have resembled the
simplest modern sponges, with no clear symmetry or tissues. From these simple
beginnings, animals have undergone remarkable diversification, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Phylogeny of modern animal taxa, based on molecular and morphological characteristics.

BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints 1

 All animals are part of a monophyletic taxon called the Metazoa whose members all
have the following features in common: they are multicellular, heterotrophic
eukaryotes whose cells lack cell walls; structural support for cells is instead provided by
proteins such as collagen, which are unique to animals. Animals are all motile for at least
part of their life cycle, and almost all pass through the same developmental stages after
fertilization, including a blastula stage that is unique to animals as well.

As shown in Figure 1, animals are classified based on several key features. The broadest
patterns- the commonest animal "blueprints"- will be covered in this lab. The key
morphological characteristics include:

▪ Symmetry: whether the organism possesses a clear plane through which it can be
divided into equal halves, and if so, how many. Animals are broadly divided based
on whether they have radial or bilateral symmetry (see below), or no symmetry at
all!
▪ Tissues: whether cells that share similar functions are grouped together into layers
or sheets, leading to functional separation within the organism (e.g. a distinct layer
of cells responsible for digestion or the elimination of metabolic waste). Most
animals have true tissues and are therefore part of a monophyletic group called the
Eumetazoans ("true animals"). Eumetazoans are further divided based on whether
their tissues are derived from two (i.e. diploblastic) vs. three (i.e. triploblastic)
germ layers during development.
▪ Fate of the blastopore: during development,
the zygote divides repeatedly, forming a
hollow sphere called the blastula. This
hollow sphere invaginates, forming a
gastrula. This invagination eventually forms
the digestive system of the animal. In the
earliest animals, the initial opening becomes
the mouth, so that such animals are referred
to as protostomes ("mouth first"). However,
in one animal taxon, early development is
"flipped", so that the initial opening becomes
the anus, and the mouth only forms once
gastrulation is complete; such animals are
referred to as deuterostomes ("mouth
second"). We are deuterostomes.
▪ Molting: whether the organism possesses a
rigid skin (cuticle or carapace) that needs to
be shed, or molted, to allow the organism to

2 BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints

 grow; such animals are part of a monophyletic taxon called the Ecdysozoa (so
named because they undergo ecdysis, or molting). A second taxon called the
Lophotrochozoa includes animals that don't possess a rigid cuticle or carapace and
can therefore grow continuously throughout their life cycle.

Many additional features Biologists use to classify animals evolved independently in

several animal taxa, including the following:

Body cavities and mesenteries: whether the animal has a body cavity, and if so, how did
it form? Also, whether the organs within that body cavity are held in place by mesenteries
(thin membranous muscle tissue).

Segmentation: whether the body of the animal is organized into serially repeated units. In
some taxa, segmentation is clearly visible in the external appearance of the animal; this is
the case for the Annelids, including the earthworm we will be dissecting in today's lab. In
other taxa, groups of segments have fused together to form broad head, thorax, and
abdomen regions; this is called tagmosis and is most evident insects and other arthropods
we discuss in the next lab. In still other taxa, segmentation is most apparent in some parts
of the skeleton and the musculature; this is the case for the chordates, of which we are a
part. Annelids, arthropods, and chordates all evolved segmentation independently.

Cephalization: animals that are bilateral (i.e. have a single plane of symmetry that divides
them into two equal halves) and motile generally move through their environment mouth
first, so that the mouth represents the "front" of the animal. In such cases it makes sense to
concentrate all sensory and decision-making structures such as eyes and brains towards
the anterior parts of the animal as well, resulting in cephalization.

In this laboratory, we survey some of the major features of the animal blueprint,
with a special emphasis on the worm body plan. Future labs focus on major taxa including
insects and other arthropods, and the chordates, which includes fish, amphibians, reptiles,
birds, and mammals.

Learning outcomes for this laboratory exercise

1. List and describe some of the key features used to classify animals.
2. Identify the major structural innovations that have marked animal evolution.
3. Describe how the worm body plan has evolved repeatedly in different animal
lineages, and list some of the adaptive features of this body plan.

Possible Pre-lab readings

Nicole King, The Unicellular Ancestry of Animal Development, Developmental Cell, 7(3):
313-325, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2004.08.010.

BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints 3

Erwin, D. H. (1999). "The Origin of Body plans". Integrative and Comparative Biology 39 (3):
617–629. doi:10.1093/icb/39.3.617

Materials needed
Compound and dissecting microscopes Planaria or Dugesia
Glass well slides and cover slips
Light source Prepared slides:
Scalpel Animal developmental stages (sea star)
Beakers Planaria, whole mount
Blunt probe Leucosolenia, whole mount
Cooked egg yolk to feed the planarians Grantia, cross section
Hydra, cross section
Dried or preserved specimens Metridium, cross section
Sponges (various) Planaria, cross section
Leucosolenia Lumbricus, cross section
Anemones (Metridium) Ascaris, cross section
Lumbricus (earthworm)
Ascaris

Live organisms:

Lab Methods

Exercise 1. Symmetry

Animal body plans feature three types of symmetry, as explained in Figure 2, based on
whether their body has at least one plane of symmetry that bisects the animal into two
equal halves that are mirror images of each other.

4 BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints

 Figure 2. Types of animal symmetry.

▪ Obtain a preserved / dried sponge, a preserved anemone, and a preserved slide of a

whole planarian. Sponges are members of the Porifera, anemones are members of
the Cnidaria, and planaria are Platyhelminthes (like us, they are part of a large
monophyletic taxon called the Bilateria). What kind of symmetry is possessed by
each?

Exercise 2. Animal development

Animal development goes through a series of distinct stages, although each stage can be
modified in different taxa. The general pattern is that the zygote undergoes cleavage- a
series of mitotic divisions- resulting in a hollow sphere called a blastula. The hollow region
is called the blastocoel. This sphere invaginates, forming a blastopore, then further
folding inward to form a hollow tube that will eventually form the digestive system. The
initial opening becomes the mouth or the anus, depending on whether the animal is a
protostome or deuterostome, respectively. At this point, the gastrula has two distinct cell
layers- an outer layer (ectoderm) that becomes the epidermis and sensory structures, and
an inner layer (endoderm) that becomes the digestive system, as well as respiratory and
excretory tissues. As the gastrula stage progresses, most animals develop a third layer
(mesoderm), that forms the living tissue in between the first two layers as well as the
mesenteries that line the coelom.

▪ Obtain a prepared slide depicting the developmental stages in animals (the sea star,
in this case). In your worksheet, sketch the initial stages up to and including
gastrulation. Be sure to annotate your sketches with any observable anatomical
details. Sea stars are Echinoderms (see Figure 1). Based on that information, is the
blastopore fated to become the mouth, or the anus?

BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints 5

Exercise 3. Porifera and Cnidaria

The Porifera and Cnidaria include the simplest and most ancient animals.

The Porifera are informally called

sponges. They lack symmetry, true
tissues or organs. Their bodies
consist of a limited number of cell
types specialized to specific tasks,
but these are not functionally
grouped together in the sponge's
body. Sponges are built as a system
of interconnected chambers and
canals; these are lined with
flagellated cells called
choanocytes ("collar cells") that
create the water currents that flow
through the sponge, bringing food.
Food particles (mostly bacteria-
sized) are captured and
phagocytized by the choanocytes.
The overall body shape of the
sponge is maintained by tiny
skeletal elements called spicules.
Water currents enter the sponge's
body through small inhalant pores (ostia) on its external surface, pass through small
chambers called atria, which communally emply into a larger space called the spongocoel.
Currents then exit through larger exhalant openings called oscula (s. osculum).

▪ Examine preserved and prepared slides Leucosolenia, as well as cross section

prepared slides of Grantia. Also observe any additional dried sponges on display.
Based on these observations and using the above image as a guide, sketch and
annotate the typical body form of a simple sponge. Be sure to clearly identify any
observable anatomical details. Note the presence of spicules.
▪ Based on your observations and your understanding of basic animal biology,
propose hypotheses that might explain why sponges do not need excretory organs
or a circulatory system.

Cnidarians are a primarily marine Phylum whose members can be benthic, planktonic,
solitary or colonial. In spite of their apparent simplicity, they play critical roles as top
predators, filter feeders, and (thanks to symbioses with dinoflagellates) some taxa can even

6 BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints

obtain much of their energy via photosynthesis; by building reefs, members of the Cnidaria
are responsible for creating and maintaining some of the most diverse and beautiful
ecosystems on Earth.

Cnidarians are named for the specialized stinging cells characteristic of their Phylum,
called cnidocytes. These cells are equipped with organelles called nematocysts that
discharge a coiled thread that captures and stuns prey. Cnidocytes tend to be clustered into
batteries at specific locations on the body, usually the tentacles. The basic body type is a
radially symmetrical cup or sac with a single opening, which serves as both mouth and
anus, surrounded by stinging tentacles. They have no left and right; instead they have a
clear oral (mouth end) and aboral regions. They are diploblastic, and the volume between
the epidermis and the gut is filled with a gelatinous mesoglea that gives the cnidarian its
shape (unlike the sponges, they do not have spicules or other rigid skeletal elements).
There are two basic body forms: the polyp, designed to be fixed to the substrate at its
aboral end, and the medusa, designed to be motile.

▪ Polyp form: examine a prepared slide of Hydra under a compound microscope. Note
the simple two-layered (diploblastic) body design. Note the inner gastrodermis and
outer epidermis. Where are the cnidocytes located? Now examine a cross section
through the sea anemone Metridium, and note the similarities. Both are
fundamentally organized as polyps, although Metridium is larger and has a more
elaborate gastric cavity.
▪ Medusa form: examine preserved medusae of Gonionemus and Aurelia. Using the
above form, compare and contrast this form with the polyp. List the specific
adaptations present in the medusal form that allow it to be free-swimming.

Exercise 4. Playing with Platyhelminthes

BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints 7

 All of the remaining taxa covered in this course are part of the Bilateria, the bilaterally
symmetrical animals. They generally display some degree of cephalization, have three germ
layers (i.e. they are triploblastic). The Platyhelminthes ("flat worms") are the most
ancestral, ancient members of this group- so ancient that they don't even have a body
cavity: they are acoelomate! Like the Cnidaria, they lack an anus, and they lack specialized
respiratory, circulatory, and skeletal systems: their bodies are so flat that nutrients, wastes,
and gases can move through their tissues by diffusion. They have a mouth, which leads to a
v-shaped digestive system that is blind-ended. Free living forms exhibit cephalization and
sensory structures such as eyespots. Although we focus here on free-living flatworms
(Planaria or Dugesia), keep in mind that Platyhelminthes includes many major parasite
taxa including the schistosomes, flukes, and tapeworms. Some of these are highly
pathogenic, and are important disease agents for human populations worldwide.

▪ Obtain a living Planaria and / or Dugesia from the culture jar by carefully collecting
one with a few drops of water and placing it in a well slide. Work quickly or the
worm will stick to the inside of the dropper.
▪ Observe under a steromicroscope. What signs of cephalization does this animal
exhibit? Gently poke it with a blunt probe. How does it react? Use a piece of paper to
partially shade the underside of half of the well slide. Do the worms prefer the lit or
shady side? In your worksheet, hypothesize why they might show this preference.
What structures do you think they use to detect light?
▪ Remove the shade-causing piece of paper, and place a tiny amount (a few grains) of
cooked egg yolk in the well. Observe the feeding movements. How does this
organism feed?
▪ Based on these observations, annotate the diagram of the whole organism in your
worksheet.

8 BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints

Exercise 5. The worm body plan

When determining relatedness among groups of organisms, our first reflex is to

focus on external form or morphology. However, if this was our only tool, then we might
incorrectly assume that, for example, whales are fish. It’s important to consider how a
common environment (or common lifestyle factors) may have caused distantly related taxa
to evolve similar-looking body plans. This is particularly true for annelids and nematodes,
both of which are informally called "worms" (as are flatworms!) despite being radically
different kinds of animal (see Figure 1).

One key difference between nematodes and annelids lies in the design of their body
cavities. In both, the body cavity is filled with fluid which cushions the internal organs from
shock or deformation during movement, as well as serving as a circulatory medium, and
aiding in the dissemination of nutrients and oxygen. However, in nematodes, the body
cavity is lined with muscle but the digestive tract and reproductive organs are not held in
place. This kind of body cavity is called a pseudocoelom, and animals that possess it are
called pseudocoelomates. In annelids, the body cavity is also lined with muscle, but the
digestive tract and other organs are held in place by thin muscles: mesenteries. This kind of
body cavity is a coelom, and is characteristic of coelomates. (We are coelomates! Our
lineage independently evolved the same body cavity design as the annelids.)

BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints 9

 Nematodes are represented by 10,000 known species. Some are free-living, found
in every environment all over the globe; others are parasitic, and may infect every other
group of multicellular organisms. Obviously, the pseudocoelom body plan is highly
successful and adaptable to a variety of niches. Parasitic nematodes cause a variety of
animal maladies, including Ascaris, which are normally intestinal parasites of pigs but can
also infect humans. Ascaris release their eggs into the digestive tract of their host, and rely
on chance to introduce eggs into the intestine of another suitable host. They compensate
for the low chance that any egg will be successful by producing millions of eggs, at a rate of
about 100,000–200,000 per female per day.

10 BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints

 Annelids are a group that features an important evolutionary innovation: that lined,
fluid-filled body cavity between the body wall and the intestine, technically known as a
coelom (aee above image). A second prominent feature observable in annelids is a body
plan consisting of repeating segments; often highly similar in structure and content. This
type of scheme has advantages in that it requires few “instructions” at the gene level to
specify many units, and evolutionarily, represents a very simple blueprint with immense
potential for “experiments”/accidents. Repeated units within a body plan are termed
metameres, or segments. In annelids, separate nerve groups, sets of muscles, and
appendages in each metamere allow efficient burrowing through the independent but
coordinated expansion and contraction of metameres. We also see the results of evolution
of the metameric body plan in that annelids process food sequentially: first in the crop,
then the gizzard (where food is ground up) and intestine. Each of these organs is found in

BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints 11

different sets of segments; each segment thus evidences specialization within the broad
category of “digesting.”

The annelids are worm-like metameric animals, perhaps the largest and most
diverse of organisms with this body form. Annelids are primarily burrowing animals, and
possess bristles called setae on each segment, or unsegmented legs called parapodia, to
help move through the substrate. The fluid-filled coelom acts as a hydrostatic skeleton.
Nerves, muscles, nephridial tubes, and blood vessels are all metameric, repeated in each
segment, and thus serially homologous. Annelids have independently evolved a closed
vascular system, in which blood is confined to dedicated circulatory vessels rather than
flowing freely among the body tissues.
Waste is excreted through nephridial tubes,
which arise from the coelom and empty
through the body wall. Gas exchange in
terrestrial species is across the body
surface, as there are no gills.

The annelids include three distinct

groups. Oligochaeta (e.g., earthworms) are
simple annelids with which most of us are
familiar. They have only a few bristles for
appendages (and no parapodia). The
oligochaetes forage primarily on
decomposing organic matter in the soil. The
Polychaeta (marine fanworms and
bristleworms) are the most abundant and
structurally diverse annelids. Polychaetes
possess well-developed appendages (called
parapodia), with which they crawl and
burrow. Most polychaetes are predacious,
attacking prey with their jaws. Polychaetes
have numerous bristles (setae) per
segment on parapodia projections. The Hirudinea lack bristles, include bloodsucking
annelids (e.g., leeches), and are more closely related to the oligochaetes.

▪ Obtain preserved Ascaris (nematode) and Lumbricus (earthworm). Compare and

contrast the external anatomy of these two "worms". Do both have well-defined
anterior and posterior ends? Do they have a mouth and anus? Do they show clear
evidence of segmentation? How flexible are their bodies? Is there cephalization?

12 BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints

 Sketch both organisms in your worksheets, and annotate with any observable
anatomical features. See the image below as a starting point.

▪ In a tray, dissect the earthworm by opening it with an incision along its dorsal
midline. Using the above images as a guide, label the diagram in the worksheet with
any clearly observable anatomical features.

▪ Alongside the earthworm, dissect the Ascaris. Sketch and annotate using the above
image as a guide.

BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints 13

 ▪ Obtain prepared slides of Ascaris and Lumbricus cross sections. Sketch the two side
by side in the space provided. Use the above images of Lumbricus and Ascaris
anatomy to annotate your sketches.
▪ Compare and contrast the internal anatomies of Ascaris and Lumbricus. How are
they similar? How are they different from each other? How do both of these taxa
differ from the flatworm you examined above? Are the digestive tracts held in place
/ surrounded by muscle tissue? Is there segmentation and if so, what specific organ
systems are repeated in every segment? Estimate the percentage of the internal
volume that is accounted for by digestive vs reproductive structures. As mentioned
above, parasites tend to invest a lot of energy in reproduction; do your observations
support this?
▪ Observe any additional annelids on display (there will typically be 1-2 polychaetes
and 1-2 leeches) and compare and contrast them with the earthworm.
▪ Based on all of the above observations, what is/are the evolutionary advantages of a
wormlike body? Are these advantages the same for a free-living organism such as an
earthworm as they are for a parasitic one like Ascaris?

14 BIOL 1510 | Animal Blueprints