COELENTERATA- Hydra

The phylum COELENTERATA includes the, jellyfishes, Sea anemones. All of these animals have a body
wall consisting of two layers of cells, between which is a non-cellular substance, the mesoglea. Within
the body is a single gastrovascular cavity, or coelenteron. Because of the presence of two Cellular layers,
all coelenterates are said to be diploblastic. They are also acoelomates, i.e. they do not possess a second
body cavity the coelom. All coelenterates are provided with nematocysts.

This phylum contains three classes, as follows:'-

CLASS I. HYDROZOA. This class includes the fresh-water polyps, the small jellyfishes the hydroid
zoophytes, and a few stony corals.

CLASS II. SCYPHOZOA.' Most of the large jellyfishes are placed in this class.

CLASS III. ANTHOZOA. In this class are included sea anemones, and most of the horny coral.

HYDRA-A FRESH-WATER HYDROZOON

Hydra is a simple metazoan abundant in fresh-water ponds and streams. If a quantity of aquatic
vegetation is gathered and placed in glass dishes full of water, these little fresh-water polyps may be
found clinging to the plants and the sides and bottom of the dish. They are easily seen with the naked
eye, being from 2 to 20 mm. in length, and may be likened to a short thick thread frazzled at the
unattached, distal end.

External characters. - The body of hydra resembles an elastic tube which varies in length and thickness
according as the animal is extended in the former case it may reach a length of 2 cm. At the distal end is
a circlet usually from six to ten slender, finger-like projections called tentades. The diameter of the body
is frequently certain points by a distention due to the ingestion of large particles of food. Different
species of Hydra differ in color but the color often depends on the character of the food and hence is
not a constant feature. The part of the body which is usually attached to some object is known as the
foot or basal disk and is referred to as the proximal end. The foot not only anchors the animal when at
rest, but also serves as a locomotor organ. In, the common brown species, Hydra (fusca) oligactis, the
proximal region is a slender stalk and the distal region constitutes a sort of stomach. A conical elevation,
the hypothome, occupies the distal end of the body. It is surrounded by the tentacles, and has at the top
an opening, the mouth. This mouth is not the simple circular orifice often described, but is star-shaped,
having clefts running out from the center toward each arm. The tentacles are capable of remarkable
expansion, and may stretch out from small blunt projections to very thin threads 7 cm. or more in
length; in this condition they are so thin as to be barely visible even with a lens. They move
independently capturing food and bringing it into the mouth. Their number varies considerably. Six
hundred specimens of Hydra viridissima possessed from four to twelve tentacles each. Frequently
specimens of Hydra are found which possess buds in various stages of development. Several buds are
often found on a single animal, and these in turn may bear buds before detachment from the parent. In
this way a sort of primitive Hydra colony is formed, resembling somewhat the asexual colonies of some
of the more complex coelenterates. In Hydra there is a rather definite budding zone where stalk and
body meet.
Reproductive organs may be observed on specimens of Hydra in the summer or autumn. Both an ovary
and testes are produced on a single individual in most species; the former is knob-like, occupying a
position about one third the length of the anima{ above the basal disk; the testes, usually two or more in
number, are conical elevations projecting from the distal third of the body.

Nemotocyst or stinging capsules are present on all parts of the body of Hydra except the basal disk,
being most numerous on the tentacles. Each is contained in a cell known as a cnidoblast. These in turn
are embedded in little tubercles on the surface which give it a rough-appearing outline. The tubercles
are ectoderm celIs, each of which usually possesses one or more large nematocysts surrounded by a
number of a smaller variety.

Ectoderm. The ectoderm is primarily protective and sensory, containing structures characteristic of
these functions.

Endoderm. - The inner layer of cells, the endoderm, occupies about two thirds of the body wall. Its
functions are digestive and secretory. The digestive cells are long and clubshaped, with transverse
muscular fibrils at their base, forming a circular sheet of contractile substance.

Mesoglea. - The mesoglea in Hydra is so thin as to be difficult to find, even when highly magnified; in
some of the other Coelenterates this layer is very thick, constituting by far the largest part of the body.

Nutrition. - Food. - The food of Hydra consists principally of small animals that live in the water. Of these
may be mentioned small crustaceans such as Cyclops, annelids, and insect larvae.

Hydra normally rests with its basal disk attached to some object and its body and tentacles extended out
into the water. In this position it occupies a considerable amount of hunting territory. Any small aquatic
animal swimming in touch with a tentacle is at once shot full of nematocysts (Fig. 102, B), which not only
seem to paralyze it, but also to hold it firmly.

Ingestion. - Ingestion takes place as follows: First, the tentacle, which has captured the prey, bends
toward the mouth with its load of food. The other tentacles not only assist in this, but may use their
nematocysts in quieting the victim. The mouth often begins to open before the food has reached it. The
edges of the mouth gradually enclose the organism and force it into the gastrovascular cavity. The body
wall contracts behind the food and forces it down. Frequently organisms many times the size of the
Hydra are successfully ingested.

Reactions to food. - It is not uncommon to find hydras that will not react to food when it is presented to
them. This is due to the fact that these animals will eat only when a certain interval of time has elapsed
since their last meal. The physiological condition of Hydra, therefore, determines its response to the
food stimulus. The collision of an aquatic organism with the tentacle of Hydra is not sufficient to cause
the food-taking reaction, since it has been found that not only a mechanical stimulus, but also a
chemical stimulus must be present. A very hungry Hydra will even go through the characteristic
movements when it is excited by the chemical stimulus alone. Digestion.-Immediately after the
ingestion of food the gland cells in the endoderm show signs of great activity; their nuclei enlarge and
become granular. This is due probably to the formation of enzymes which are discharged into the
gastrovascular cavity and begin at once the dissolution of the food.

Egestion. - All insoluble material is egested from the mouth. This is accomplished by "a very sudden
squirt" which throws the debris to some distance.

Symbiosis. - One species of Hydra, H. viridissima, is green in color because of the presence within the
endoderm cells of a unicellular alga, Chlorella vulgaris. As in Paramrecium bursaria, the plant uses some
of the waste products of metabolism of the Hydra, and the Hydra uses some of the oxygen resulting
from the process of photosynthesis in the plant. This condition is one of symbiosis.