RHIZARIA

• Single-celled eukaryotes that are a key component of planktic communities in the ocean;
• Present in the upper water column and in deeper layer;
• Possess splender pseudopodia (called filopodia)
• Ex. Ammonia tepida

Additional characteristics
• Most Radiolians are heterotrophs by two groups (Chlorarachnea and Paulinella) include photosynthetic species
• Radiolaria and Foraminifera harbor algal symbionts to supplement their metabolic needs
Two major groups of Rhizaria include:
1. Phylum Foraminifera
2. Phylum Radiolaria

Group: Foraminiferans (Forams)

• Foramen— little hole; fera— to bear

• Single-celled and contains shell;
• Primarily marine group.
Tests
• Individuals secrete multichambered tests, generally of calcium carbonate;
Reticulopodia
• Pseudopodia (reticulopodia) emerge through pores in the test.
• Elphidium crispum is a benthic species, which means it lives on the sea floor.
• The net-like reticulopodia are thought to secrete an external mucous layer to trap the food organisms

GROUP: Radiolarians
• Ray animals;
• Body divided into distinct intracapsular & extracapsular zones separated by a perforated membrane or capsule
• Usually of microscopic size when existing as solitary forms, but some species (e.g., some members of Order Spumellaria) form
colonies.
• Example: A radiolarian, Acanthometra elasticum

AMOEBOID PROTOZOANS

Cell Structure:
• simple cell structure (Cell membrane, cytoplasm & nucleus)
• contain specialized organelles e.g. food vacuoles, contractile vacuoles & plastids
Pseudopodia:
• temporary cytoplasmic projections used for movement and feeding
• allowing the organism to change shape and direction
Feeding;
• heterotrophic (phagocytosis or pinocytosis)
Reproduction:
• both asexual (binary fission/multiple fission or budding) & sexual (fusion of gametes to form a zygote)
Ecological Roles:
• consumers, decomposers, & predators
• regulate microbial populations, recycle nutrients & contribute to nutrient cycling

The Amoebozoans
• Free living, does include some parasitic species e.g. Entamoeba histolytica
• Nearly all possess branching tubular mitochondrial cristae sometimes referred to as the “naked ramicristate amoebae”

The Naked Amoebae (Gymnamoebae)

• surrounded only by their own cell membranes (lack a rigid cell wall or external covering)
move and feed using pseudopodia
• heterotrophic
• asexual & sexual
Habitats: freshwater ponds & streams, soil, leaf litter, marine environments

Representative species:
1. Amoeba proteus
2. Chaos carolinensis

The Arcellinids and Related Test-Bearing Amoebae

• Either secrete a single-chambered, proteinaceous or siliceous covering about themselves
Testate amoebae
• are common in soil, lakes, and rivers, and as associates of sphagnum mosses
• most test-bearing amoebae are in the Amoebozoa
• atleast 75% are placed in the group Arcellinida
• all have lobopodia- characterized by their blunt, rounded shape and lack of distinct substructures such as filaments or branching
networks

The Slime Molds

• also known as myxomycetes
Life Cycle: Vegetative (plasmodial) stage & reproductive stage
Feeding & Nutrition: Heterotrophic, phagocytosis
Habitat: Terrestrial habitats such as forests, grasslands, decaying organic matter and soil.
Distinct Characteristics
Plasmodial Stage: Plasmodium can grow and move in response to environmental cues
Reproductive Structures: Sporangia or fruiting bodies
Ecological Role: helps breakdown organic matter, recycle nutrients & contribute to soil fertility
Taxonomic diversity: with over 1,000 known species
Representative species:
1. Physarum polycephalum
2. Dictyostelium discoideum

Mastigamoebae
• -possess both locomotory flagella and pseudopodia
• Single-celled
• Heterotrophic, using their flagella or phagocytosis
• Found in various aquatic and terrestrial habitats including freshwater ponds & streams, soil, leaf litter, and marine environments.
Distinct Characteristics
Flagellar structure: Two flagellar types (anterior flagella & posterior flagella)
Flagellar reproduction: may undergo binary fission or form cysts for dispersal
Representative species:
1. Naegleria fowleri
2. Percolomonas

The Rhizaria
• possess splender pseudopodia (filopodia) – may be simple or branching, sometimes highly complex networks (reticulopodia)
• encompasses wide range of protists, including foraminiferans and radiolarians
• both free-living and symbiotic organisms
• diverse feeding strategies (autotrophic & heterotrophic)
• Asexual & sexual reproduction
• believe to have diversified from a common ancestor with other eukaryotic groups such as Alveolata and Stramenopiles

Phylum Foraminifera
• are primarily marine and live on bottom sediments as benthic organisms
• no parasitic species, some are ectocommensal
• secrete multichambered test, typically of calcium carbonate
• reticulopodia – food capture
• repeated extension and shortening – permits slow crawling over the ocean bottom
• Paleontological Significance
Distinct Characteristics
• Test Morphology: Calcium carbonate, agglutinated particles, or organic material
• Pseudopodia
• Chambered Structure: septa (buoyancy control, protection, reproduction)
• Paleotological Importance
• BioIndicator Species
Representative species:
1. Globigerina bulloides
2. Nummulites

Phylum Radiozoa
• members of this phylum radiolarians & acantharians – support their pseudopodia with thin, radiating microtubules that give a spiny,
rayed appearance to many species
• Axopodia
• possess a rigid endoskeleton composed of either silica (in radiolarians) or strontium sulfate (in acantharians)
• prominent in the fossil record
• phototrophic & heterotrophic
• radiolarian body (spherical – intracapsular zone (nucleus is contained) and extracapsular zone (food vacuole formation and digestion
occur)
Distinct Characteristics
• Body is divided into distinct intracapsular and extracapsular zones separated by a perforated membrane or capsule
Representative species:
1. Acanthometra pellucida
2. Aulacantha scolymantha

An Amoeboid Misfit: The Heliozoans

• also called “centrohelids” are primarily floating organisms with axopodia
• restricted to freshwater habitats
• Demarcated into:
1. a frothy outer region of ectoplasm
2. a less highly vacuolated inner region of endoplasm
• placed outside the Rhizaria in the Chromista
• closely related to the alveolates
• fewer than 100 heliozoan species have been described
Distinct Characteristics
• Body is divided into distinct inner and outer regions, but the regions are not separated by any physical boundary; axonemes have
numerous microtubules arranged as hexagons or triangles
Representative species:
1. Actinophrys sol
2. Raphidiophrys contractilis
FLAGELLATED PROTOZOANS

Flagellates (mastigophorans)
• body covered by pellicle
• locomotion by one or more flagella
• may be solitary or colonial
• cytostome is present in some species
• contractile vacuoles may be present, particularly in freshwater species
Flagellates include:
1. Phytoflagellated protozoans
2. Zooflagellated protozoans
- Free-living forms
- Parasitic forms

Phytoflagellated protozoans
- Photosynthesizing species
- Some contain chlorophyll (e.g. Euglena from Class Euglenida)
- Others use light but require various dissolved organic compounds
- Many species have stigma, a photosensitive organelle
- Some become holozoic if necessary

Zooflagellated protozoans
- animal-like
- assimilate organic material by osmotrophy or phagotrophy
- Most species are free-living in freshwater, saltwater, or soil
- About 25% are parasitic or commensal with plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates

Zooflagellated protozoans (free-living forms)

• Some are sessile and attached to a substrate
e.g. Choanoflagellates
-single flagellum, have microvilli
• Some are colonial and immobile
e.g. genus Proterospongia
-colonies up to several hundred cells
Zooflagellated protozoans (parasitic forms)
• often exhibit levels of structural and functional complexity
- live in the intestine or the bloodstream of the host
Zooflagellated protozoans (parasitic forms)
• Phylum Euglenozoa, Order Kinetoplastea
- Possess one to two flagella per individual
- parasitic species infect animals, flowering plants, and other protozoans
- have a prominent body of massed DNA within the mitochondrion called a kinetoplast, and a unique microtubular cytoskeleton.

-Trypanosomes, responsible for African sleeping sickness with tsetse fly as vector
Leishmania donovani, sand flies as vectors, causes extreme disfigurement and death
Ex: Flagellate diversity: trypanosomes.
(a) Trypanosoma lewisi.
(b) African trypanosome (Trypanosoma brucei brucei)

Zooflagellated protozoans (commensal)

1. Phylum Parabasala
- these flagellates are mostly symbiotic, living in hosts ranging from humans to termites and wood roaches.
- Instead of mitochondria, they possess hydrogenosomes
2. Class Trichomonadida
Dientamoeba, Trichomonas
3. Class Hypermastigia
Holomastigotes, Lophomonas, Trichonympha, Spironympha. All are intestinal symbionts of termites, cockroaches, and woodroaches,
with each individual bearing hundreds to thousands of flagella.

EX: Trichomonas vaginalis

• small protozoan
• parasitizing the human vagina, prostate, and urethra.
• causes little or no discomfort in men, but it often produces considerable inflammation and irritation in women.
• is readily transmittable, sexually and otherwise
•
Hypermastigotes
- morphologically complex; several species inhabit termite and wood-eating roaches guts and can digest cellulose
The diplomonads
- A group of flagellates of uncertain affiliation. Lack mitochondria. Widely believed to derive from amitochondrial ancestors. Most
species are intestinal symbionts, although some species are free-living.
- Ex. Giardia
Transitional forms
- individuals of some other species are “amoebo-flagellates
- Ex: Naegleria gruberi
Class Hexactinellida

General Characteristics: ex: Euplectella aspergillum

• Siliceous hexactine (six-pointed) spicules
• syconoid and leuconoid.
• Structures often lack color
• Holdfasts of spicule mats or rope-like structures
• Asexual and sexual reproduction
• Omnivores
• Filter feeders

Representative species
1. Euplectella aspergillum (Venus’ Flower Basket)
• Skeleton contains hexactine siliceous
• Known as "glass sponge" due to its glass-like appearance.
• Surrounded by a trabecular net
• Within the net are finger-like chambers covered in choanocytes, opening into the spongocoel.
• Choanocytes vibrate to move water through the sponge, creating a funnel-like shape.
• At its base, a tuft of elongated spicules attaches it to the ocean bottom.
2. Hyalonema sp. (Glass Rope Sponge)
• Unique sponge species with no organ system or tissues.
• Can grow up to 6ft tall and has a silica-based skeleton.
• Found in deeper waters
• Reproduction: Sexually and Asexually
3. Farrea ananchorata
4. Hexasterophora incertae sedis
5. Oopsacas minuta
Distinct characteristics:
• The entire sponge, including the outer layer, is syncytial.
• Lacks contractile elements.
• No pinacoderm layer.
• The inner, flagellated layer is also syncytial.
• can rapidly conduct electrical impulses across their bodies

CLASS CALCAREA
Ex. Clathrina darwinii
Characteristics
• “Calx”, means limestone or chalk
• Skeletons made entirely of calcium carbonate spicules and lack spongin
• 10 cm less in height and dull in color
• Tree-pointed spires (triactines) is the most common spicule shape
• Only class with having the three canal system (asconoid synconoid and leuconoid)
Taxonomy
• ~ 756 marine species
• 7.5% of sponge diversity
Habitat
• Can be found mainly on the rocky bottoms, and shallow saltwater, particularly in temperate areas.
• Deepest species found at 4400m.
Reproduction
• Can reproduce sexually and asexually
• Asexual reproduction – by budding
• Sexual reproduction – being hermaphroditic
• exception of Genus Leucetta for being viviparous
• Ex. Leucetta chagonensis

Representative organisms:
1. Leucetta chagonensis
2. Leucandra heathi

CLASS HOMOSCLEROMORPHA
General Characteristics
• Absence of a skeleton
• Small size and simple body structure
• Encrusting forms
• Exclusively found in marine environments
• possess a unique type of tetractine spicules (calthrops)
• Basement membrane lining choanoderm and pinacoderm

Family Oscarellidae
• are typically small sponges often ranging from few centimeters in size
• Compared to other sponge group they lack complex canal system or large cavities
 • Exhibit a compact, globular or vase-like shape with a single osculum at the apex
• Lack of spicules
• Typically found in shallow marine environments often inhabiting crevices or rocky substrates
• They are filter feeders

Representative organism
1. Oscarella lobularis
~Small globular sponge
~Found in rocky substrates in Mediterranean sea and Northeastern Atlantic Ocean
~Lacks skeleton of spicules instead supported by network of collagen fibers
~They are filter feeder
2. Plakina jani
~found in shallow coastal water
~Has flattened, encrusting or lobate morphology with slightly wrinkled surface
~Lacks spicules or very small, simple spicules compared to other sponges
~Supported by network of collagen fibers

Family Plakinidae
• Exhibits an encrusting or massive growth form
• Flattened body
• Lack of spicules
• Presence of plakins
• Found in marine environments, inhabiting wide range of depths from shallow coastal waters to deeper oceanic regions
• Filter feeders

Representative organism
1. Corticium candelabrum
~Encrusting colonies speading over surfaces of rocks, shells or coral substrates
~Flattened body
~Lack of spicules, no supporting skeletons
~Presence of plakins
~Inhabits shallow coastal waters to moderate depths
~Filter feeders
2. Plakortis halichondrioides
~Sponge species with massive or globular shape
~Typically found in deeper waters
~Exhibit variable coloration, ranging from light brown to orange or reddish-bown
~Appear uneven, with ridges or pores scattered across surface
~Presence of oscula
~Produce bioactive compounds for defense mechanisms

DEMOSPONGIAE

Characteristics
• are asymmetrical
• range from thin encrustations several cm in diameter to huge cake-shaped species 2 m (6.6 ft) in diameter
• skeleton of either 1- or 4-rayed siliceous spicules, spongin fibres, or both; skeleton lacking in a few primitive genera
• ex. Crella incrustans (Crellidae)
• -This sponge can be found in rock pools, under ledges in the intertidal or in rubble banks of boulders
• -possess a leuconoid structure, with a folded choanoderm
Ex. Amphimedon queenslandica

Poecilosclerida
• has a unique feature— chelae, which are meniscoid (crescent-shaped) microscleres with a curved shaft and recurved,
winglike or broadly rounded structures at each end
Haplosclerida
• are frequently cushionshaped; however, encrusting, branching, tubular, vase-, and fan-shaped forms are also quite common;
coloring is not very intense
Habitat and Behavior
• marine environment from the intertidal to the abyssal zone; some species inhabit freshwater
• are immobile animals attached at the base to a substrate, or surface on which they live
• some species successfully compete with corals and other sponges for space by releasing toxic chemicals.
• any member of the sponge family Clionidae (class Demospongiae, phylum Porifera), noted for its ability to dissolve and bore into
calcium-containing substances, such as limestone, coral, and mollusk shells.
Reproduction
• Some are hermaphroditic while others have distinct sexes
• may be viviparous, oviparous, or asexual
• In sexual reproduction, spermatocytes develop from the transformation of choanocytes, and oocytes arise from archeocytes.
• asexual reproduction include both budding and the formation of gemmules

Giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta)

• "Redwoods of the Reef."
• are hermaphroditic
• is one of the largest sponge species wherever it lives
• are attached to the reef surface and are unable to move
• has a glass-like skeleton
Feeding Ecology and Diet
• Like all other sponges, the Demospongiae are filter-feeders. One genus consists of carnivorous species that engulf and digest small
crustaceans.
 • Water bearing these food particles enters through outer pores. Choanocytes capture most of the food; however pinocytes and
amoebocytes can also digest food.
Chondrocladia
• a genus of carnivorous demosponges of the family Cladorhizidae
• still possesses the water flow system and choanocytes typical of sponges, albeit highly modified to inflate balloon-like structures that
are used for capturing prey

OPISTHOKONTS
• contains the true fungi and their protozoan relatives, and the multicellular animals (including humans) with their protist relatives
• has a posterior ( opistho = G: behind) flagellum ( kont = G:flagellum) in some part of the life cycle.

The Choanoflagellates (phylum Choanomonada)

1. Acanthoeca, Codosiga, Diaphanoeca,Monosiga, Proterospongia.
2. “collar-flagellates”
3. Free-living with single flagellum surrounded by a basket-like collar composed of siliceous filaments by which choanoflagellates both move and
take in food.
4. Many species form colonies, from which both metazoans and fungi may have evolved

The Choanoflagellates (phylum Choanomonada)

1. Craspedida- unicellular species, free swimming colonies (e.g. Salpingoeca rosetta) or substratum attached colonies (e.g. Codosiga botrytis)
2. Acanthoecida- characterized by a basket shaped inorganic covering (lorica)
~has two families, the nudiform acanthoecidae (e.g. acanthoeca spectabilis) and the tectiform stephanoecidae (e.g.
Stephanoeca diplocostata).
Model species
1. Monosiga brevicollis
2. Salpingoeca rosetta

Phylum Fungi : Phylum Microsporidia

• Buxtehudea, Loma, Metchnikovella, Microfilum, Nosema.
• microsporidians are degenerate fungi. If so, their lack of mitochondria reflects a secondary loss from ancestors that had them.
• obligate, intracellular, spore-forming parasites that have been reclassified from protozoa to fungi
• The members of one genus (Metchnikovella) all are intracellular parasites of gregarine protozoans (phylum Apicomplexa).

The Myxozoans
• Chloromyxum, Myxidium
• Molecular data now show that the members of this group, which are all parasitic, mostly in fishes, are highly degenerate metazoans, probably
most closely related to jellyfish and other cnidarians.
• Classification of myxospores is based on the number of shell valves (Bivalvulida, Multivalvulida) and the position of the polar capsules
in the spore.

PHYLUM CNIDARIA- CLASS HYDROZOA

CHARACTERISTICS

• Hydrozoans are small, relatively common Class under the Phylum Cnidarian.
• Can be found in both marine and freshwater environments.
• exhibit two body forms, either polypoid, which is frequently colonial and a medusoid stage in their life cycles, or both.
Diploblastic
• two embryonic tissue layers that are mostly made up of epitheliomuscular cells/myoepithelial cells
• mesoglea that separates the epidermis and gastrodermis.
• interstitial stem cells or i-cells that produces various somatic cells including the stinging cells called cnidocytes
• Gastrodermis encloses the gastrovascular system which serves both nutritive and transport function.
• zooids (or modules of the colony), all of which are interconnected and share a continuous gastrovascular cavity
• Morphologically distinct polyp types; feeding gastrozooids, reproductive gonozooids, defensive dactylozooids.
• Manubrium - the projection from the middle of the subumbrella surface and contains the mouth at its apex.
• a membranous, shelf-like structure called a velum, which projects in (towards the manubrium) from the inner edge of the ring canal
region.
LIFE CYCLE AND REPRODUCTION

• Reproductive polyps, known as gonozooids (or "gonotheca" in thecate hydrozoans) bud off asexually produced medusae.
• In hydrozoan species with both polyp and medusa generations, the medusa stage is the sexually reproductive phase. Medusae of these
species of Hydrozoa are known as "hydromedusae".

Metagenesis in Life Cycle of Obelia sp.

• Alternates between polyp and medusa stage
• Planula develops into a feeding gastrozooid
• Gastrozooids produced Gonozooids, which produces
medusae
• Medusae mature and break free and swim out of the
opening
• Medusae reporoduce sexually
• Fertilization occurs when sperm are carried by water
current to a female medusae
• Blastula is converted into an oval ciliated planula larva
through invagination
• Settles down on submerged substratum at one end
• Disc appears for attachment and develops a manubrium
and tentacles to turn into a simple polyp

Asexual Reproduction of Hydra

• Common freshwater Hydrozoans that hangs underside of a floating plants in clean streams and ponds
• Lacks medusa stage and reproduce asexually(budding) and sexually
Sexual Reproduction of Hydra
• fusion of specialized reproductive cells from two parent hydras.
• Sexual reproduction introduces genetic diversity into the population and allows for the creation of offspring with unique combinations
of traits.
Order Siphonophora
• Large oceanic Hydrozoans belong to this order
• Association of polypoid and medusoid individuals
• Include the Portuguese man-of-war; free-floating hydrozoan colonies in which medusoid and polypoid morphs are present
simultaneously in a number of different incarnations.

Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis)

• the Portuguese man o' war is colonial: each man o' war is composed of many smaller units (zooids) that hang in clusters from under a
large, gas-filled structure called the pneumatophore
• found throughout the world's oceans, in tropical, subtropical and (occasionally) temperate regions.
• The gas-filled bladder, or pneumatophore, remains at the surface, while the remainder is submerged
• The Portuguese man o' war is well known to beachgoers for the painful stings delivered by its tentacles

CLASS ANTHOZOA

CLASSIFICATION
• The class Anthozoa, contains approximately 7, 500 extant species
• Divided into two subclasses: Hexacorallia and Octocorallia
• Hexacorallia
-is comprised of six orders, including the Actiniaria, Antipatharia, Ceriantharia, Corallimorphia, Scleractinia, and Zoantharia
• Octocorallia
-is comprised of three orders, namely Alcyonacea, Helioporacea, and Pennatulacea

DISTINCT CHARACTERISTICS
- absence of a medusa stage
- absence of operculum and cnidocil
- mitochondrial DNA is circular (as in most eukaryotes) rather than linear
- presence of a ciliated groove (siphonoglyph) in the pharyngeal wall leading from the mouth
- coelenteron partitioned by distinct sheets of tissue (mesenteries/septa)

ANATOMY
-Anthozoa are considered ‘simple’ as they contain only two layers of cells, an inner layer called endoderm and an outer layer called ectoderm
- All anthozoans are marine and all exploit the polyp body form and lifestyle exclusively;
• Polyp – is a tubelike sac (gastrovascular cavity) with a single opening at the top of the sac that serve as both the mouth and anus and
thus called the mouth-anus
• Anthozoan mouth opens into a tubular pharynx rather than directly into the gastrovascular cavity, and one or two discrete, ciliated
grooves, called siphonoglyphs
• gastrovascular cavity is partitioned by numerous sheets of tissue called mesenteries or septa
• sac (gastrovascular cavity) with a single opening at the top of the sac that serve as both the mouth and anus and thus called the
mouth-anus

REPRODUCTION
• Can occur either vegetatively (“asexually”) or sexually
• Asexual Reproduction- occurs “vegetatively” involving the complete detachment of body segments from animal to form genetically
identical individuals or genets
• Sexual Reproduction- involves the fusion of gametes- sperm and egg- to form a distinct fertilized embryo which develops into a free-
swimming larva.

PHYSIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

• Anthozoans protect themselves from predators and competitors by producing copious amounts of mucus and/or discharging
nematocysts that may contain a diversity of venoms
• Isidella tentaculum “Bamboo Coral”

Subclass Hexacorallia (Zoantharia)

• possess many tentacles around the mouth (usually in some multiple of six tentacles) and six pairs of primary mesenteries
• many species in this subclass are solitary
• others are then to be colonial and are also called scleractinian corals
• Scleractinian corals may be hermatypic and ahermatypic

Representative Organism
1. Agaricia tenuifolia
• Encrusting or plate-like colonies
• Polyps have thin, elongated tentacles
• Typically brownish or yellowish
• Colonies can reach sizes of up to 30 cm
• Typically found at depths of 5 to 20 meters

2. Pocillopora damicornis
• Branching or bushy colonies
• Polyps have small, cylindrical tentacles
• Variable, including brown, pink, green, or purple
• Colonies can reach sizes of up to 1 meter
• Found in shallow, clear tropical waters
Subclass Ocotocorallia (Alcyonaria)
• Polyps bear eight tentacles and are subdivided by eight complete mesenteries
• The tentacles of octocorallians are pinnate; that is, they bear numerous lateral outfoldings called pinnules
• The polyps of octocorals may be embedded in a thick matrix of mesoglea; these are the soft corals.
Representative Organism
1. Clavularia
• Colonial, with polyps connected by stolons or creeping bases
• Each polyp has a cylindrical or club-like shape, with tentacles surrounding the oral disc
• Individual polyps are typically small, around a few millimeters in size
• Variable, including shades of brown, green, pink, or purple

2. Pennatula phosphorea
• Soft, flexible cylindrical body with a central axis called a rachis
• Numerous polyps arranged along lateral branches called pinnules, giving a feather-like appearance
• Can grow up to several decimeters in height
• Typically pale yellow or light brown, may exhibit bioluminescence

CLASS SCYPHOZOA- PHYLUM CNIDARIA

Ex. Aurelia coerulea

1. Aurelia aurita
• Translucent and whitish in color, often shaded with blue, pink, or blue.
• Shallow dome-shaped bell and range in diameter from 10 to 35 cm.
• Numerous short, fine, fringe-like tentacles around the margin.
• The four white, horseshoe-shaped gonads.
• Four oral arms hang down from the center of the bottom surface of the bell.

2. Cyanea (Lion’s mane jellyfish)

• Can reach 2 m diameter
• Disk or umbrella is saucer shaped or bow shaped.
• Bell bears tentacles, arranged in eight groups with 70 to 150 or more tentacles in each.
• Tentacles can measure up to 30 m long
• The margin of the umbrella contains 8 lappets.
• Fish and crustaceans often inhabit as commensals, external parasites, or predators.
3. Rhizostoma (Barrel jellyfish)
• The body (umbrella) is hemi spherical , without marginal tentacles.
• 8 large oral arms are branched and root-like.
• The blue coloration of the ring muscle of the dorsal umbrella
• Suctorial mouths opening into canals
• Scapulets on the outer surface of the arms near the bell.