Lecture 15 Animal Diversity 3

Body plans and the evolution of internal cavities

Eumetazoa fall into two relatively easily distinguishable groups: those with radial
symmetry – Radiata, and those that have only one plane along which they can
be divided into two mirror images – bilaterally symmetrical - Bilateria [32.7]. The
aim of this lecture is to explain their body plans; review the biodiversity of the
radiate animals; and to understand how the differentiation of extra layers of the
simplest animals allowed the evolution of increasingly more complex forms. (The
emphasis is on somatic form – reproduction is mentioned more in next lecture).

The Radiata are an ancient, huge (10,000 species), successful and very diverse
group, mostly marine. The simplest way of classifying these animals is into a
single group – referred to as the Cnidaria (cnide = nettle; 33.7) with reference to
their stinging cells (although not all of them have them). All of them are one of 2
main body forms. Both have just two layers of cells – diploblastic - with a variable
amount of jelly in between the two layers. Polyps [handout] are largely sessile
(they mostly stay mainly attached and in one place), and include Hydra (famous
for its ability to regenerate parts) and sea anemones. Many are single individuals,
such as the ones associated with clown fish (more later) and the beadlet
anemone Actinia but there are also very successful colonial forms, such as hard
and soft corals (handout). Support comes from a hydrostatic skeleton (water
trapped within the structure, does allow limited movement and reaction to
challenge). Medusae (sing. medusa) are free swimming forms that include jellies
(“jellyfish”). (33.7 and movie, showing comb jellies propelled by rows of cilia; see
also Life Episode 8 Creatures of the Deep, and David Gallo’s TED “Underwater
Astonishments” both on the “additional movies” area of the Blackboard resources
– both of which include some good additional material on deep sea vent
communities, relevant to last week’s lecture). Both types usually have tentacles,
and most also have sophisticated weapons called nematocysts. As each of these
stinging structures is secreted within its cell, it becomes biochemically and
physically ‘loaded’ like a gun cocked and ready to fire a missile. A very small
stimulus (eg touch or specific chemicals) causes firing. A tiny thread (nema –
thread) bursts out, achieving up to 2ms -1 and with an acceleration of 40,000g. It
penetrates the prey (or attacker) and injects a neurotoxin. (See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tp38DUjUnM for the mechanism).
[Further reading at: New Scientist 8 th Nov 2003 “Armed and extremely
dangerous”http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18024204.800-armed-and-dangerous.html]

The high toxicity to humans should not be taken to indicate that these animals
live on large prey, as they have no way to consume large animals - small prey is
immobilised then drawn into the mouth (also functions as the anus) and thus into
the digestive cavity inside the animals.

Cubozoans (box jellies) are amongst the most sophisticated - their vision is
beautifully adapted to cope with ocean conditions – they have some simple, and
some surprisingly complex eyes – lens, retina, cornea, see handout. [If interested
in zoology or evolution, see also New Scientist 14th May, 2005 p18 “Multi-eyed
jellyfish helps with Darwin’s puzzle” http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18624995.700-
multieyed-jellyfish-helps-with-darwins-puzzle.html]

Some animals in this group, as we dealt with in earlier lectures (and will do again
in later ones) team up with protists including dinoflagellates and other algae to
form anemones and corals. Hard corals are the basis of many important
ecosystems around the world, many of which are under threat from global
warming (see handout, and if interested in climate change read “Coral Reefs”, in
BSRs on Blackboard –; Environmental Scientists might also be interested to read
about the suggested remedy and its possible drawbacks in New Scientist 18 th
October 2008 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026781.400-mission-
implausible-extreme-schemes-to-save-the-reefs.html - with movie showing coral
bleaching]

Hard corals are like tiny anemones with calcium carbonate shells around their
bases (into which the polyps can retreat) and most have the best of both worlds
by having the means to harvest prey via tentacles (especially at night) and
harvest light via endosymbiotic photosynthetic protists during the day [more in
later lectures]. Exceptions are found in water too deep for photosynthesis – deep
ocean corals like the mushroom coral [movie – Norwegian fjord, 2000m deep has
coral reef 30m high and 200m long] have the largest polyps and tentacles of all –
the latter are up to 3cm long.

The Radiata are far too numerous and diverse to cover properly – floating forms*
have relatives such as the deep ocean huge siphonophores (colonial jellies, with
tentacles up to 40m long – Portuguese man-‘o-war etc shown in movie) and
comb jellies, which are powered by rows of cilia (fused into “combs”) but have
retractable tentacles that secrete adhesive from special granules when they
come into contact with prey.

That concludes the Radiata – their only means of support is jelly and/or water, eg
in hydrostatic skeleton; this simple 2-layered structure limits the potential for
more complex forms.

The Bilateria, the bilaterally symmetrical animals, are all formed from at least
three layers of cells (triploblastic) – endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm [32.8;
handout]. This allows for considerably more diversity, but (cf. liverworts), you
can only get so big before penetration of necessary nutrients and gases starts to
limit your size. To get much bigger or more complicated, an internal compartment
(coelom) is crucial.

The Flatworms are animals with no cavity (they lack a coleom – acoelomate)
inside their body – they are solid in construction (like the simplest liverworts). It
was a big evolutionary step forward to have a distinct anterior and posterior – the
sensory area could be concentrated at the front (anterior). Ganglia are just
clusters of nerve cells (not a distinct organ that can really be described as a
brain), and the light sensitive areas (“eyespots”) of flatworms are not eyes, but
their positioning shows the first step of cephalisation (from the Greek word for
“head”).

Flatworms are a very successful group. 20,000 species: marine, freshwater and
even damp terrestrial habitats. They have only one opening to their
gastrovascular cavity (“gut”) – the muscular pharynx spills digestive juices onto
prey and sucks back partially digested food. Undigested waste is egested
through the same opening.

The most familiar members of this group to anyone who did A level are probably
flukes – such as Schistosoma [33.11] but human parasites are not covered in
this course so there is no need to learn about them - just notice that the juveniles
that hatch from eggs are very simple forms surrounded by cilia (like comb jellies).
The same holds for other members of group eg marine flatworms [movie].

Handout shows 3 groups of worms, but the name “worm” is applied to many
elongated bilateral invertebrates without appendages - there is no close
taxonomic (or evolutionary) link between them, the body form is just a similar
bilaterally symmetrical evolutionary “solution” of different groups to similar
problems [we will cover the other 2 groups of worms in upcoming lectures].

Molluscs (90,000 species) as we will cover further in the next lecture, do have a
coelom, with organs suspended within it. Their gut is a “flow through” gut with an
opening (mouth) at one end and an exit (anus) at the other [handout], and a huge
diversity of different body forms (see Fig 1 in BSR Feb 2002, 20-23 - the article is
on sea slugs but is an excellent overview of all molluscs – see resources – BSR
articles). Many of the organisms in the group have a protective shell of calcium
carbonate. As we saw in the plants, extra protection and support has allowed
some members of relatively simple groups of organisms to colonise relatively dry
land or at least survive dry periods. Snails are a familiar example.

Molluscs are very diverse, they include many marine shelled animals eg clams
(up to 1m in length - movie), scallops, mussels and animals that have
‘abandoned’ heavy and cumbersome shells and become modified [movie, incl.
castanet scallops]. Not all molluscs are mobile, and one of the most challenging
environments in which to live confronts the common mussel. It must adhere to
rocks in wave-swept coastal situations or fast running rivers (if you are interested
in bivalves or are doing the BIOL 10632 (Greece) or 10602 (Scotland) field
courses then you might also be interested to see http://norvan.cps-ecp.org/Life
%20on%20the%20Coast/mussels.htm). The adhesive mentioned in that site
does not have to be extracted from the animals. There is enormous
biotechnological interest in these adhesive proteins (because they work in wet
conditions, cf. the human body). Transgenic plants have long been used to
generate the adhesive protein for biomedical applications and recently work with
the adhesive protein has been combined with research on geckos to produce an
adhesive that works well in wet situations but, importantly, also detaches easily
(like a “post-it note”). For further reading especially relevant to students in
Zoology and Biotechnology see Gecko Biotech (BSR in lecture resources) or the
original article in Nature 19th July 2007 “A reversible wet/dry adhesive inspired
by mussels and geckos”
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7151/full/nature05968.html
Zoology students, and those in Biology with Science and Society might have a
chuckle over this letter too – a salutary tale for journalists everywhere!
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7159/full/449139a.html]

Gastropods (“feeding-feet”) include many non-shelled forms of mollusc, including

land and sea slugs, which rasp away chunks of herbaceous matter with their
radula [handout and see Field Specimen 4 in the Stopford Front Quad] and are
very important animals both environmentally and commercially. Sea slugs
(Nudibranchs – “naked gills” – animals that do not suspend all their important
organs within their coleom, but have their gills pushed to the outside of the
animal) are hugely diverse and successful marine group. Many have distasteful
or poisonous flesh, many display warning colouration [movie] [All students are
recommended to read the two articles on sea slugs in resources – BSR and
National Geographic].

*please see “Life” episode 8 “Creatures of the Deep” [BBC 2009] on “additional
movies” in resources for many of the same animals shown in movies in this
lecture in better resolution and much longer sequences (but in less of a logical
order and with other animals we will cover in the next couple of lectures)
And if you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii, book a Pelagic Magic night dive
with Jack’s Diving Locker – I promise you will be amazed at the diversity of jellies
and other life forms you can see when suspended in 2,000’ of water with a light!
See http://jacksdivinglocker.com/charters2/PelagicMagic.htm

BIOL10511Lecture Key learning outcomes Key words

15 Understand what Polyp
distinguishes the Medusa
Bilateria from the Nematocyst
Radiata. Flatworm
Appreciate the diversity Coelom
of radiate animals, and Mollusc
understand the body Gastropod
plans of diplo- and
triloblastic animals.

Questions for (PASS) discussion

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a distinct anterior
and posterior?
• What are the environmental reasons that might have discouraged jellies
and sea anemones from evolving a “head”, and maintaining radial
symmetry?