ANIMAL LIKE PROTISTS:

THE PROTOZOA

The multicellular and

tissue levels of an
organization
ANIMAL LIKE PROTISTS:
THE PROTOZOA
OBJECTIVES:

1. Distinguish the characteristics of protozoans;

2. Describe and differentiate the different animal-like protists.
PROTOZOA

Traditionally referred to as chemoorganotrophic protists.

Chemoorganotrophic refers to those organisms that use organic compounds
as a source of energy, electrons, and carbon for biosynthesis.
Protozoologists- zoologists who specialize in the study of protozoa
Protistology – The study of protistology
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROTOZOA
• Eukaryotic
• “Pond water critters”
• They lack a cell wall
• Shelled protozoa have the simplest exoskeletons.
• Most are microscopic
• No organs or tissues are formed, but specialized organelles serve many of these functions
• They include free-living, mutualistic, commensal and parasitic forms
• All types of nutrition are present: autotrophic, heterotrophic and saprozoic
• They can be aquatic or terrestrial
• Reproduction is asexual by fission, budding or cysts; or sexual by conjugation or syngamy of
gametes
CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROTOZOA
• Animal-like protists are single-celled heterotrophs that can move.
• Nutrition by ingesting other organisms or dead organic material.
• Some organisms are parasitic, since they cannot actively capture
food. They must live in an area of the host organism that has a
constant food supply, such as the intestines or bloodstream of an
animal.
• The protozoans are grouped on the basis of their modes of
locomotion to:

Pseudopods Flagellates Ciliates Sporozoans

move by psedupodia such move by flagella such do not move
move by cilia such
as as as Paramecium such as
Amoeba Giardia Plasmodium, those
called sessile.
 PHYLUM SARCOMASTIGOPHORA ZOOFLAGELLATES
-Most are unicellular.
-Move with a tail called a flagella
-Reproduction is sexual or asexual.
-Zooflagellates live inside other organisms in long-
term,
SUBPHYLUM MASTIGOPHORA
Contains both phytoflagellates and zooflagellates
Class: Zoomastigophora
symbiotic relationships,
Ex :
Trichonympha in gut of termites to break down wood.
-Cause sickness, Ex :Trypanosoma gambiense : African sleeping sickness
– multiplies in human blood & releases toxins.
Symptoms : sleepiness, fever,
weakness. Transmission : tsetse fly.
Chagas Disease – kissing bug
THE KISSING BUG

Chagas disease
Leishmaniasis

Sand fly

Leishmania
Example: Giardia – Parasite that
causes infection of small intestines.
DON’T DRINK POND WATER!!!
 PSEUDOPODS
E.G AMOEBA
• have no wall outside of their cell
membrane.
• use extensions of their cell membrane
(called pseudopodia) to move, as well as, to
engulf food.
• Amoebas live in water, dissolved nutrients
from the environment can diffuse directly
through their cell membranes.
• Most amoebas live in marine environments,
although some freshwater species exist.
• Freshwater amoebas use contractile
vacuoles to pump excess water out of the
cell.
Sarcodines – move and feed with pseudopods (false feet).
Cytoplasmic streaming – cytoplasm flows and moves in the
direction of the longest extension.
Pseudopod – “False foot”. A
temporary cytoplasmic projection used
for movement & capturing food.

-Some have shells that make up

limestone, Ex : Foraminiferans
(calcium shell) & Radiolarians (silicon
shell).
Feeding:
• When the pseudopodium traps a bit of food,
the cell membrane closes around the meal, this
forms a food vacuole.
• Digestive enzymes are secreted into the food
vacuole, which break down the food. The cell
then absorbs the nutrients.
ROLE OF SARCODINA IN BUILDING
EARTH DEPOSITS
a. Hard shells of foraminiferans and radiolarians have been
preserved since Precambrian times.
b. Abundant in the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, some measured
up to 100 mm in diameter!
c. One-third of the sea bottom ooze in the Atlantic consists of
Globigerina shells.
d.Radiolarians have less soluble siliceous shells and form the ooze in
Pacific and Indian oceans and fossil in Tertiary rocks of California.
e. The White Cliffs of Dover are sedimentary sarcodine deposits that
were uplifted.
f. Their use as indicators of rock ages is important to oil geologists.
Subphylum Sarcodina
a. Amoeba proteus in the superclass Rhizopoda is most commonly
studied.
b. The cell membrane encloses the ectoplasm and endoplasm.
d. The nucleus, contractile vacuole and vesicles can be seen by
microscope.
e. Ameba feed on algae, protozoa, rotifers, etc. by phagocytosis; food
vacuoles exist 15-30 hours.
f. Reproduction is by binary fission using mitosis.
g. Other rhizopoda include the huge Chaos carolinense, Amoeba
radiosa with slender pseudopodia and entozoic ameba.
h. Entamoeba histolytica lives in the human large intestine and
attacks the intestinal wall with enzymes, causing severe and often
fatal diarrhea.
i. Entamoeba coli in the intestine and E. gingivalis in the mouth are
not disease agents.
j. Some rhizopods have a siliceous or chitinoid test for protection;
pseudopodia project from openings.
CILIATED PROTOZOA (PHYLUM CILIOPHORA)
E.G PARAMECIUM
• Move by the cilia covering their bodies.
• Cilia – short, hair-like projections used for movement.
• They can be found almost anywhere, in freshwater or
marine environments.
• Probably the best-known ciliate is the organism
Paramecium.

•Paramecia have many well-developed organelles.

•Paramecia have two nuclei, a macronucleus and a micronucleus.
• Macronucleus – controls cellular activities & holds genetic material.
• Micronucleus – extra copy of DNA
& is exchanged during conjugation.

•The larger macronucleus controls most of the metabolic functions of the

cell.
•The smaller micronucleus controls much of the pathways involved in
sexual reproduction.
•Thousands of cilia appear through the pellicle, a tough, protective covering
surrounding the cell membrane.
Feeding:

•Food enters the cell through the oral groove (lined

with cilia, to "sweep" the food into the cell), where it
moves to the gullet, which packages the meal into a
food vacuole.

•Enzymes released into the food vacuole break down

the food, and the nutrients are absorbed into the cell.

•Wastes are removed from the cell through an anal

pore.

•Contractile vacuoles pump out excess water, since

paramecia live in freshwater surroundings.
PHYLUM MICROSPORA (SPOROZOANS)
Obligatory intracellular parasites lacking mitochondria
Consists of protists that have spindle-shaped/roundish
Sporozoans (Sporozoa) – animal-like protists that can’t move
on their own & are parasitic, ex : Plasmodium causes
malaria.
Transmission : Anopheles
mosquito.
-Are protozoans that have NO structures for movement – are
non-motile.
-Have complex life cycles that include sexual and asexual
phases that occur in more than one host.
Commonly called microsporidia
Causing intestinal and extraintestinal diseases in both
immunocompetent and immunosuppressed individuals.
PHYLUM APICOMPLEXA (SPOROZOA)

• No obvious means of locomotion

• Originally called sporozoa
• No free-living forms
• Complex life cycle: Spore-like form, intracellular
stages
• Define by apical organelles
• Gliding motility
 PHYLUM ACETOSPORA

• Small Phylum, obligatory extracellular

parasites
• Spore lacking polar caps or polar filaments
• Multicellular spores
• Consists exclusively of parasitic protists to
only invertebrates
• Parasite in cell, tissues and body cavities of
molluscs
• Example; Haplosporidium
PHYLUM LABYRINTHOMORPHA

• Smallest phylum
• Consists of protists that have spindle-shaped/roundish
• All are parasitic on algae and seagrass
• Most of them Marine or esturarine
• Gliding motion in mucus track
• Example: Labyrinthula –killed many seagrasses
PHYLUM MYXOZOA

• Commonly called myxosporeans

• Obligatory extracellular parasites of fish
• All parasitic
• Found in fresh water and marine
• Example : Myxsoma cerebralis
-infects CNS and auditory organs of trout
And salmon, cause whirling and
tumbling
THE MULTICELLULAR AND
TISSUE LEVELS OF AN
ORGANIZATION
 PHYLUM PORIFERA - SPONGES
• Mostly marine, but include some freshwater
inhabitants; usually found attached to the substratum
in shallow or deep water.
• They are sessile; permanently attached to the
substrate
• Obtain their food by filter feeding
•5000 -10000 spp.
•Grow in many forms, solitary, colonial, branching, as
thin
sheets over substrates
• From few cm to over 1 m in size
• Estimated in some cases to be several hundred
years old
Body layers
1. The pinacoderm - an outer layer of flattened
cells called pinacocytes
2. An inner lining containing flagellated cells
(choanocytes) - draw water in through the pores
and move out through the osculum; also trap
food particles that are suspended in the water.
• The water current is also used for gas
exchange, removal of wastes, and release of the
gametes
3. Between the pinacodern and the choanocytes
is a gelatinous material called mesohyl; contains
several different kinds of wandering cells called
amoeboid cells
Archaeocytes are amoeboid cells that
phagocytize food particles; they can also
undergo differentiation to form other cells,
including cells that produce spicules and gametes
 II. Other Characteristics of
the Poriferan Body Plan
• No true muscular system
• Lacking sensory organs, nervous system
• Often amorphous and asymmetrical,
no anterior, posterior, oral surfaces
• No true tissues
• All physiological functions carried out \
at the cellular level

Begs the question: Colony of protista or

a simple metazoan (i.e. an integrated animal ?)
General Morphology
• The internal cavity is called the atrium or spongocoel
• Water is drawn into it through a series of incurrent pores or dermal ostia present in the body wall into
a central cavity and then flows out of the sponge through a large opening at the top called the osculum
Sponge Reproduction
• Most are hermaphroditic or monoecious.
• Sperm leaves a sponge via the osculum, and enters a sponge by the currents generated
from the choanocytes.
Fertilized eggs develop into ciliated free-swimming larvae called parenchymula larvae
• Sponges can reproduce asexually by fragmentation

• Many of the freshwater sponges can

produce asexual bodies called
gemmules, aggregations of cells that are
enclosed in hard outer covering
containing spicules
General Characteristics of the Porifera Body Plan

The classification of sponges is based on skeletal morphology

 General Characteristics ofthe Poriferan Body
Plan

3 major types of body construction or Canal System

Asconoid
Syconoid
Leuconoid

(this has little to do with the

classification of sponges, which is
based on skeletal morphology)
Types of Sponges (Canal
Systems)
A. Asconoid Sponges

• Simple vaselike structure

• This stucture puts limitations on size;
(increase in volume without a corresponding
increase in the surface area of the
choanocytes)
Types of Sponges (Canal Systems) cont.

B. Synconoid Sponges

• The flagellated choanocyte layer has undergone

folding forming finger like projections
• There is a single osculum but the body wall is more
complex, with water being received through
incurrent canals, which pass it along to radial canals
through to the spongocoel
• Results in an increase in the surface area which
allowed sponges to increase in the size
Types of Sponges (Canal Systems) cont.

C. Leuconoid Sponges
• No atrium; several small chambers in which
choanocytes are located
• There is a whole series of incurrent canals
leading to the choanocyte chambers; water is
discharges through excurrent canals
• The leuconoid sponges exhibit a significant
increase in surface area and are, therefore, among
the largest sponges
Sponge Taxonomy

Class Calcarea (Calcispongidae)

• Only sponges that possess spicules

composed of calcium carbonate.
• Spicules are straight or have 3-4 rays,
and do not have hollow axial canals.
• Today, their diversity is greatest in the
tropics, predominantly in shallow waters
Class Hexactinellida (Hyalospongiae)

• Glass sponges; characterized by

siliceous spicules consisting of six rays
intersecting at right angles
• Widely viewed as an early branch
within the Porifera
Class Demospongiae
• Greater than 90 percent of the 5,000 known living
sponge species are demosponges.
• Demosponge skeletons are composed of spongin
fibers and/or siliceous spicules
• Siliceous spicules with one to four rays not at
right angles,
All members express the leuconoid body form

Yellow sponge growing on a wall

on a Caribbean reef.
CLASS HOMOSCLEROMORPHA

• Very simple structure-once considered to be

primitive sponges.
• Without skeleton or with siliceous spicules without
axial filament
• Usually encrusting sponges, found all over the
world in cool to tropical marine environments
growing like underwater lichen on the surface of
hard substrates.
PHYLUM CNIDARIA
• Hydra, jellyfish, coral, & sea anemones
 PHYLUM CNIDARIA
Examples?
• Sea anemones
• Corals
• Sea Pen
• Sea Fan
• Sea Plume
• Hydra
• Jelly fish
• Portuguese Man o’ War
• Box Jelly Fish
CNIDOCYTES
• Cnidarians are predators which have tentacles possessing batteries of special cells called
Cnidocytes
• Cnidocytes contain special stining capsules called nematocysts.
• When triggered, these cells shoot out a discharge thread which can entangle and/or poison it's
intended prey
 BODY STRUCTURE

A. Polymorphism =
more than one body form

1. Polyp

2. Medusa
 B. POLYP
• Tube with tentacles
around the mouth
• Sessile

Coral polyp
POLYP (SEA ANEMONE)
POLYP (HYDRA)
 C. MEDUSA
• Umbrella shape
• Tentacles around mouth
• Motile, Free-swimming
 D. TENTACLES

• Have nematocysts
(stinging cells)
• Coiled thread discharges
like a harpoon
• Contains neurotoxin
• Paralyzes prey

Discharged
nematocyst
HOW DOES THE STINGING CELL WORK??

• The tentacle is
stimulated
• Pressure on “trigger”

• Nematocyst is
discharged
• Thread uncoils
• Entangles prey

• Some species produce

toxins
• Injects toxin into prey,
paralyzing it!
II. LEVEL OF ORGANIZATION

A. Tissue

B. No organs
 III. SYMMETRY

Radial

Compass jellyfish
 IV. HABITAT

A. Aquatic
1. Most Marine

2. Few fresh-water
V. FEEDING

A. Carnivores
(predators) Lion’s mane eats
B. Process of feeding another jelly
1. Tentacles sting prey with
nematocysts
2. Tentacles grab prey
3. Prey pulled into mouth
 PROCESS OF FEEDING
4. Prey stuffed into gastro-vascular
cavity (GVC)*
5. GVC makes enzymes, extra-cellular
digestion
6. Undigested food back out mouth
*incomplete digestive tract (no anus)
LION’S MANE JELLYFISH EATING
 LOCOMOTION
A. Medusa motile, free-swimming
B. Polyps sessile
Exceptions:
1. Hydra tumbles on tentacles
2. Sea anemones glide on pedal disc
 REPRODUCTION
1. Asexual
budding from polyps or medusae
2. Sexual
a. Medusae release sperm & eggs
b. Some monoecious, some dioecious
c. Larvae free-swimming
ECOLOGICAL ROLE
A. Predators and prey
B. Neurotoxins in medical research
C. Coral – jewelry, building, reefs (surfing!)
D. Coral reefs - habitat for many
-great biodiversity
- protect coastline
E. Symbiosis with other organisms
Diversity of Cnidarians
3 Main Taxonomic classes
Class Scyphozoa
ClassAnthozoa
ClassHydrozoa

Class Cubozoa contains

a few jellyfish spp
 CLASS ANTHOZOA: ANEMONES & CORALS

• Appear like plants but are

animals.
• Polyp form is dominant.
• Corals build calcium shells to
protect themselves Corals
• Have symbiotic relationship with
algae.
• Can build extensive masses
which can form land masses.
Sea Anemones
CLASS HYDROZOA: THE HYDRAS
BROWN HYDRA
WITH BUDS
CHARACTERISTICS:
• Polyp phase is dominant
• Generally microscopic
• Generally freshwater
Green Hydra

Brown Hydra eating

 CLASS SCYPHOZOA: TRUE JELLYFISH

CHARACTERISTICS:
• The nervous system is more complex; unique sensory
structures(than nerve net shared by all Cnidaria)
• G-V cavity more complex, adapted to subdue and
digest larger and active prey
• Generally refered tro as jellies
• Medusa stage is dominant
• Come in a variety of forms
• Aggressive predators, and can be dangerous to
humans
 PORTUGUESE
MAN 0’ WAR
(A HYDROZOAN)
NOT A TRUE
JELLY FISH

Tentacles of Physalia physalis

PORTUGUESE MAN O’ WAR
VS. BOX JELLY FISH
CLASS CUBOZOA: BOX JELLYFISH
 PHYLUM
CTENOPHORA
CTENOPHORES

• Comes from the Greek ktenos for a comb and phoros bearing,
hence a comb bearing animal.
• Commonly known as comb jellies, sea gooseberries, sea
walnuts, or Venus's girdles.
• All ctenophores are predators and most are planktonic
therefore they are weak swimmers.
• Ranging from about 1 millimeter (0.039 in) to 1.5 meters
(4.9 ft) in size.
 Characteristics
of Ctenophora

Unique to Ctenophora
•Muscles* from cells in mesoglea;
widely believed to be mesoderm
Cnidaria Like
•Biradial symmetry
•Gelatinous, planktonic
• Locomotion by comb rows
•Epithelia, mesoglea
• 2 digestive canals open to the
•Mouth, pharynx, G-V canals
outside by anal pores…… more on
• No circulatory, excretory systems
this
• Nerve net present
 The Presence of a Functionally
Tripartite Through-Gut in Ctenophora
Has Implications for Metazoan
Character Trait Evolution (2016) Did a complete digestive
system evolve independently
in the Ctenophores and in
Bilateria?

“Advanced” characters in
Ctenophora
(compared to sponges)
1. Through-gut
2. Nervous system
3. Muscles
4. Epithelia

Jason S. Presnell, Lauren E. Vandepas, Kaitlyn J. Warren,

Billie J. Swalla, Chris T. Amemiya, William E. Browne
null, Volume 26, Issue 20, 2016, 2814–2820
 Other important differences:
• A few exceptional bottom-dwelling spp but no polyp phase
•Polymorphism unknown in Ctenophores
• No Ctenophores are colonial
• Colloblast (lasso) cells for feeding

• Gastrulation by epiboly or by invagination whereas

cnidarians gastrulate by delamination primarily

• Swimming by comb rows under control of apical organ

Characteristics of Ctenophores

• Biradial Symmetrical.
• Body multicellular, few tissues, some organs and organelles.
• Body contains an internal cavity and a mouth and anal pores.
• Ctenophores are the largest non-colonial animals that use cilia ("hairs") as
their main method of locomotion.
• Reproduction mostly sexual as hermaphrodites, occasionally asexual.
• Has a well developed subepidermal nerve network.
• Has a distinct larval stage which is planktonic.
• Lives in marine environments.
• All are carnivorous.
 Anatomy
• The mouth leads into a pharynx which serves as a site of
extracellular digestion and through a stomach into a series
of gastrovascular canals, where digestion is completed
intracellularly.
• The outer layer of the epidermis (outer skin) consists of:
sensory cells; cells that secrete mucus, which protects the
body; and interstitial cells, which can transform into other
types of cell.
• The internal cavity forms: a mouth that can usually be
closed by muscles; a pharynx("throat"); a wider area in the
center that acts as a stomach; and a system of internal
canals.
• The inner surface of the cavity is lined with an epithelium, pharynx
the gastrodermis. The mouth and pharynx have tentacle sheath
both cilia and well-developed muscles. tentacle
• Undigested wastes are discharged through the anal pores. /// "combs" (groups of
cilia)
mesoglea
Locomotion
• Ctenophore cells are always multiciliated.
• Swimming is accomplished by the activity of
many bands of partially fused, long cilia.
Each band is called ctene because of its
resemblance to a comb.
• The ctenes are typically organized into 8
distinct rows.
• The power stroke of the cilia is toward the
aboral surface, so that the ctenophore swims Longitudinal section through a tentacle Single colloblast
mouth first.
• Ctenophore tentacles are not studded with
nematocysts but with colloblasts.
Nervous System and Senses
• The nervous system of ctenophores
is controlled by a single apical sense
organ .
• If the animal becomes tilted, the
statolith presses against one of the
balancers more than the others,
causing the cilia of the comb rows
associated with the balancer to
increase their beat frequency until a
satisfactory body orientation is Apical Sense Organ
restored.
Sense Organs (statolith etc.) and other apical structures in Ctenophores
(figure 7.2). The ciliary grooves are agents of nerve impulse conduction…….
A nervous system; also consists of a nerve net

Pole plates also believed to be sensory in nature

Reproduction and Development

• Adults of most species can regenerate tissues that

are damaged or removed.
• Most ctenophores are hermaphroditic; a single
individual has both male and female gonads.
• The young are generally planktonic and in most
species look like miniature cydippids.
• The cydippid is spherical in shape: is endowed with
8 comb rows, a fully-formed apical sense organ, and
a pharynx and usually bears a pair of branched
tentacles.
Predator-Prey Relationship

• Ctenophore species capture their prey using their tentacles. Ctenophore

tentacles are not studded with nematocysts but with colloblasts . Each
colloblast cell consists of a bulbous, sticky head connected to a long,
straight filament and a spiral, contractile filament.
• Prey organisms become stuck to the tentacles which are retracted.
• Some ctenophores are carnivorous on other ctenophores or on gelatinous
animals in other groups.
• Surface-water species prey on zooplankton (planktonic animals) ranging in
size from the microscopic, including mollusc and fish larvae, to small adult
crustaceans such as copepods, amphipods, and even krill.
• Members of the genus Haeckelia prey on jellyfish and incorporate
their prey's nematocysts (stinging cells) into their own tentacles
instead of colloblasts.
• Ctenophores used to be regarded as "dead ends" in marine food
chains because it was thought their low ratio of organic matter to salt
and water made them a poor diet for other animals.
• Jellyfish, several fishes and turtles eat large quantities of
ctenophores, and jellyfish may temporarily wipe out ctenophore
populations. Since ctenophores and jellyfish often have large
seasonal variations in population.
Colors and Bioluminescence

• Bioluminescence is caused by the activation of

calcium-activated proteins named photoproteins in
cells called photocytes.
• The functional significance of bioluminescence is
often unclear. Mate location, species recognition,
the luring of prey, and the startling of would-be
predators .
Classification Euplokamis dunlapae

CLASS TENTACULATA
Members of this class have tentacles.
• Order Cydippida, egg-shaped animals with long tentacles.
Cydippid ctenophores have bodies that are more or less
rounded, sometimes nearly spherical and other times more
cylindrical or egg-shaped.
• Family Pleurobrachiidae. Pleurobrachia. This family
is represented over a very wide geographic range,
from polar to tropical waters and from open-ocean
habitat.
• Family Euplokidae. Euplokamis.
• Family Mertensidae. Mertensia, Callianira.
• Order Lobata, have a pair of lobes, which are
muscular, cuplike extensions of the body that
project beyond the mouth.
• Family Bolinopsidae. Bolinopsis, Mnemiopsis. Bolinopsis infundibulum
All species live in coastal waters. The tentacles
are long when in cydippid stage but are short and
inconspicuous in adults. May reach in about 15
cm in height.
• Family Ocyropsidae. Ocyropsis. Common,
tropical, open-ocean ctenophores swim using
ctene activity and vigorous flapping of the lobes.
All members are gonochoristic.
• Family Leucotheidae. Leucotha. Oral lobes are
large and fragile. Representatives are present in
all oceans, from tropical to temperate regions.
• Order Ganeshida, Ganesha. Have a pair of
small oral lobes and a pair of tentacles. The
body is circular rather than oval in cross-
section, and the pharynx extends over the
inner surfaces of the lobes.
• Order Cambojiida
• Order Cryptolobiferida
• Order Thalassocalycida, Thalassocalyce.
Fragile ctenophores that has oral lobes and
tentacles but lack auricles and tentacular Thalassocalycida
sheaths. Can reach up to 25 cm and has been
collected from as deep as 1,000 m.
• Order Cestida, “belt animals" are ribbon-
shaped planktonic animals, with the mouth
and aboral organ aligned in the middle of
opposite edges of the ribbon.

• Family Cestidae. Cestum, Velamen.

CLASS NUDA
Members of this class do not have tentacles. Contains
only one order.
• Order Beroida, no individuals in this group have
tentacles or oral lobes. All 8 comb rows however are
well developed. Prey, including other ctenophores are
captured and engulfed by muscular lips surrounding
the mouth. The mouth can be widened to
accommodate prey substantially larger than the
predator. Macrocilia are used as teeth, to chop
especially large prey into bite-sized pieces.
• Family Beroidae. Beroe.