Zoology

Chapter 7
Phyla: Cnidaria & Ctenophora

Main focus on Cnidaria

Minor focus on Ctenophora

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Chapter 7 Homework
 Read Chapter 7
 Page 122-143
 Do Review Questions 1-9,13,15-20
pages 143-4
 Review website for terms/definitions
 Review website for practice test
questions
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What’s a Cnidarian?
 A metazoan
 Lineage ~700MY old
 Named after cindocytes –
stinging cells
 Most common type -
nematocyst
 Body plan simple, sac-like
 Symmetry is radial or biradial
 Aquatic - mostly marine,
some freshwater species
 Show tissue level of
organization
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Cnidarian Characteristics
 Symmetry – radial
 No “head”
 Has oral & aboral ends
 Polymorphism present
 Polyp (sessile) & medusa (free-swimming) body
types
 Gastrovascular cavity
 single opening (mouth/anus) surrounded by
tentacles
 H2O w/i serves as hydrostatic skeleton
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Cnidarian Characteristics, con’t….
 Stinging cell organelles, cnidae, prevalent on
tentacles, epidermis, &/or gastrodermis
 Nematocysts most abundant type
 Nerve net present, some sensory organs
 Statocysts – balance organs
 Ocelli – simple light sensors
 Muscle fibers present
 Reproduction
 Asexual: budding (polyp)
 Sexual: planula larvae (medusa, some polyp forms)
 Individuals may be monoecious or dioecious
 No excretory or respiratory systems; diffusion
suffices
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 Medusa & Polyp Body Plans
Mouth & anus are the same opening
Oral End 
Aboral End 

Oral End  Pedal Disc

Aboral End 

Digestion extracellular in gastrovascular cavity; smaller particles ingested

intracellularly 6
Ecological Relationships
 Food source for mollusks & fish
 Some ctenophores, mollusks, & flatworms will
eat hydroids w/ nematocysts
 Habitats:
 Coral reefs home to fish, arthropods
 Hydroids attach to underwater structures
 Commensalism on mollusk shells
 Aquatic organisms provide food source for
cnidarians
 Rarely provide food for human consumption
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Polymorphism: the presence in a species
of more than one structural type of individual
Polyp: hydroid form; sessile; Medusa: umbrella shaped; free-
aboral end attached to swimming
substrate by pedal disc
Body tubular; mouth upward Body sac-like; mouth
ringed by tentacles downward; tentacles ring
umbrella
Asexual reproduction: budding, Reproduction sexual &/or
fission, pedal laceration asexual
Sexual reproduction occurs too Medusa usually dioecious

Sea anemones & corals are Includes Scyphozoans &

polyps – no medusa stage Cubozoans
Locomotion: Hydras move Locomotion: medusa move
freely, polyps sessile, sea freely about, at mercy of waves
anemones move on basal disc 8
Purpose of Cnidae
 Cnidarians mostly voracious carnivores, but
predatory capabilities hampered by body
plan. So….
 Polyps rely on stinging cells to
capture/paralyze any organism the tide
brings by
 Medusa rely on stinging cells to do same
even though they are free-swimming (realize
inability to totally control where they swim)

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Nematocysts Stinging cells triggered by
mechanical or chemical stimuli

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Nematocysts in tentacles

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Nematocyst Discharge
 Cell generates osmotic pressure up to 140 atm that
causes the ejection to occur
 Hydrostatic pressure increases as osmotic pressure
decreases
 Due to high osmotic pressure, stimulus causes H2O to
rush in opening operculum
 High hydrostatic pressure launches the thread within 3
milliseconds with an acceleration power of 40,000 g
and a penetration force of 20-33 kPa; barbs point rear
& anchor in victim’s tissue; poison injected
 Nematocysts are capable of penetrating up to a depth
of 0.9 mm
 Lost nematocyst must be replaced
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Cnidarian toxin
 While the amount of toxin expressed by a single
nematocyst is minute, several thousand nematocysts
discharging at once have a significant effect.
 Functionally, the toxin causes Na+ and Ca++ ion transport
abnormalities, disrupts cellular membranes, releases
inflammatory mediators, and acts as a direct toxin on the
myocardium, nervous tissue, hepatic tissue, and kidneys.
 Specifically, the toxin may contain catecholamines,
vasoactive amines (eg, histamine, serotonin), kinins,
collagenases, hyaluronidases, proteases,
phospholipases, fibrinolysins, dermatoneurotoxins,
cardiotoxins, neurotoxins, nephrotoxins, myotoxins, and
antigenic proteins. The protein component of the toxin
tends to be heat labile, nondialyzable, and is degradable
by proteolytic agents.

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Demographics
of Cnidarian stings

 United States
 Jellyfish stings occur most commonly during the summer
along coastal regions. As the coastal population grows and
more tourists come to the beaches, the frequency of jellyfish
sting is likely to increase. One investigator reported 500,000
annual envenomations in the Chesapeake Bay area and
200,000 annually along the Florida coast.
 International
 Jellyfish stings occur in tropical oceans, especially between
latitudes 30° south to 45° north, because of a high natural
concentration of cnidarians. This is especially true of the east
coast of Australia during the warm summer months between
November and May. (Don’t forget, they’re in the southern
hemisphere, so their summer is during our winter)

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Mortality/Morbidity
of Cnidarian stings

 Jellyfish stings usually are mild, except those

caused by species in the South Pacific, such as the
box jellyfish or Portuguese man-of-war. Exact
mortality and morbidity is not known because of
underreporting and the lack of an international
jellyfish sting registry.
 However, a recent epidemiology study of 118
cases of jellyfish stings from the Texas gulf coast
showed 0.8% had no effect, 80.5% had minor
effects, and 18.6% had moderate effects.

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Box Jellyfish Stings
 Box jellyfish venom has a median lethal dose of 40 mcg/kg,
which makes it the most potent marine toxin. The venom may
kill a person weighing 70 kg within 3 minutes and is
responsible for a mortality rate of 20%.
 Box jellyfish venom has caused 72 deaths secondary to
respiratory paralysis, neuromuscular paralysis drowning, and
cardiovascular collapse.
 The pain and spasms spread centrally as the venom travels to
the central circulatory system, inducing parasympathetic
overstimulation and respiratory-cardiac arrest.
 Most fatalities occur within 20 minutes of the envenomation;
according to animal studies, approximately 5-10 mcg/kg of
venom is required to induce cardiac arrest.

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Other Cnidarian Stings
 The sting of the Portuguese man-of-war is
more painful than a common jellyfish sting. It
has been described as feeling like being
struck by a lightning bolt, and some victims
dread it more than a shark bite. This sting
has been responsible for 2 reported deaths.
 The Arctic jellyfish is the largest, with
tentacles reaching 200 ft, allowing the
jellyfish to sweep an area slightly larger than
a basketball court.
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Cnidarian Nerve Net
 Contains 2 nerve nets at base of epidermis
and gastrodermis which connect
 Nerve impulses carried by neurotransmitters
via snapses
 Transmission can go either direction
 Lack myelin sheath around axons
 No brain, no centralized nervous system
 Sense organs simple
 Statocysts & ocelli

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Statocysts
 The statocyst is a balance organ present in some
aquatic invertebrates (Cnidarians, Ctenophores,
Bilaterians). It consists of a sac-like structure
containing a mineralized mass (statolith) and
numerous innervated sensory hairs (setae).
 The statolith possesses inertia, causing the mass to
move when accelerated. Deflection of setae by the
statolith in response to gravity activates neurons,
providing feedback to the animal on change in
orientation and allowing balance to be maintained.
 Because organism has no “brain,” they are limited in
their actions and responses to stimuli. The statocyst is
therefore useful for telling the animal whether it is
upside down or not.
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Ocelli
 The phylum Cnidaria includes the first multicellular
animals to form eyes; this group exhibits a diversity of
eye designs ranging from a simple photosensitive
sheet of cells to the complex image forming eyes of
cubozoan jellyfish.
 Because of their basal position on the phylogenetic
tree, cnidarians provide an excellent system in which
to study the evolution of the first multicellular animal
eyes and the evolution of photosensory mechanisms.
 The camera-type eyes of cubozoans represent the
most highly evolved eyes in the Cnidaria.
 Further they contain the visual pigments involved in
phototransduction: rhodopsin and opsins.
 These eyes resemble the proposed ancestral prototype eye.

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Cnidarian Classes
 Class Hydrozoa:
 Marine & freshwater, colonial, polyp & medusa
forms
 Class Scyphozoa
 Marine, most medusa forms
 Class Cubozoa
 Marine, medusa form prominent, no known
polyp forms, toxin lethal to humans
 Class Anthozoa
 Marine, polyps only, no medusa form

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Class Hydrozoa
 Hydra & Obelia are good examples of this
class
 Hydra:
 Freshwater species, 16 in N. America
 Solitary polyps (typical form)
 Eat larvae, worms, crustaceans
 Asexual rep – budding;
 Sexual Rep – prod of sperm/ova
 Overwinter as cysts
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Obelia, colonial hydrozoan
 Colony has base, stalk, & terminal polyps
(zooids)
 Gastrozooids (feeding)
 Gonophores (reproduction)
 Dactylozooids (defense, tentacles)
 Eat crustaceans, worms, larvae
 Buds remain attached, incr colony size
 Medusa produced by asex. Budding, released
 Medusa – dioecious, reprod sexually
 Planula larva attach, forming new colony
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Obelia Life Cycle
Alternation of generations of polyp and medusa stages

See Fig 7.9 in text

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Class Scyphozoa
 Most “jellyfish” belong here
 Medusa body form
 Marine, free-swimming (mostly), open sea
 Aurelia example of scyphozoan
 Dioecious, fertilization internal, planula
zygote
 Zygote develops, forms buds (asexually)
which produce new medusa
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Class Cubozoa
 Box “jellyfish”
 Note prominent “eyes”
 Medusa dom body form
 Polyp form unknown
 Strong swimmers, good hunters
 Toxic venom

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 Cubozoan
Pedalium: flat
blade at base
of each
tentacle
(see arrow) 

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Class Anthozoa
 Sea anemones & coral found in this
class; another is sea pens
 Medusa body form not seen
 All are marine, shallow water dwellers

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Sea Anemones
 Polyps large, heavy
 Attach to substrate via pedal discs, may burrow
in sand/mud/silt
 Tentacles ring the oral opening; mouth/anus slit
shaped
 Reproduction: Sexual or asexual
 Monoecious & dioecious individuals
 Gonads internal; fertilization external
 Zygote becomes a ciliated larva
 Budding, pedal laceration, & fission may
produce new individual asexually

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Sea Anemones

Bonaire Giant Anemone 

Note fluorescence
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 Commensal
relationships between
fish & anemone

Clown fish 
Pink Anemone Fish

 Saddleback Clownfish
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 Brain Coral 
Coral
 Two types of corals:
 Zoantharian corals – true or stony corals
 Octocorallian corals – soft corals, colonial
 Both form coral reefs
 structures produced by living organisms. In most reefs the
predominant organisms are colonial cnidarians that
secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate. The
accumulation of this skeletal material, broken and piled up
by wave action and bioeroders, produces massive
calcareous formations that make ideal habitats for living
corals and a great variety of other animal and plant life.

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 Coral Reefs
 Coral reefs are estimated to cover 284,300
km2, with the Indo-Pacific region (including
the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia
and the Pacific) accounting for 91.9% of the
total. Southeast Asia accounts for 32.3% of
that figure, while the Pacific including
Australia accounts for 40.8%. Atlantic and
Caribbean coral reefs only account for 7.6%
of the world total.
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Famous Coral Reefs include:
 The Great Barrier Reef - largest coral reef system in the world,
Queensland, Australia;
 The Belize Barrier Reef - second largest in the world,
stretching from southern Quintana Roo, Mexico and all along
the coast of Belize down to the Bay Islands of Honduras.
 The New Caledonia Barrier Reef - second longest double
barrier reef in the world, with a length of about 1500km.
 The Andros, Bahamas Barrier Reef - third largest in the world,
following along the east coast of Andros Island, Bahamas
between Andros and Nassau.
 The Red Sea Coral Reef - located off the coast of Israel,
Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
 Pulley Ridge - deepest photosynthetic coral reef, Florida

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Zooxanthellae
 The coral polyps do not photosynthesize, but have a
symbiotic relationship with single-celled algae called
zooxanthellae
 these algal cells within the tissues of the coral polyps
carry out photosynthesis and produce excess organic
nutrients that are then used by the coral polyps.
 Because of this relationship, coral reefs grow much
faster in clear water, which admits more sunlight.
Indeed, the relationship is responsible for coral reefs in
the sense that without their symbionts, coral growth
would be too slow for the corals to form impressive reef
structures.
 Corals can get up to 90% of their nutrients from their
zooxanthellae symbionts.
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Interesting Elkhorn Coral

Corals

Star Coral Fluorescent

Coral

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Biodiversity of Coral Reefs
 Coral reefs support an extraordinary biodiversity; although they are
located in nutrient-poor tropical waters.
 The process of nutrient cycling between corals, zooxanthellae, and
other reef organisms provides an explanation for why coral reefs
flourish in these waters: recycling ensures that fewer nutrients are
needed overall to support the community.
 Cyanobacteria also provide soluble nitrates for the coral reef
through the process of nitrogen fixation. Corals absorb nutrients,
including inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus, directly from the
water, and they feed upon zooplankton that are carried past the
polyps by water motion.
 Thus, primary productivity on a coral reef is very high, which results
in the highest biomass per square meter, at 5-10g C m-2 day-1.
 Producers in coral reef communities include the symbiotic
zooxanthellae, sponges, marine worms, seaweed, coralline algae
(especially small types called turf algae.

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Cnidarian Picture Gallery
Red Stalk Jellyfish

Portuguese Man-o-War

This scyphozoan is unusual; it

is attached not free floating
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 Velella

Velella & Note: Large float in this species

Man-o-war
are only
scyphozoans
w/ floats

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Sea Pens (Anthozoans)

Orange Sea Pen

Note: Brittle star atop this sea pen  42

 Sea Fan

Arctic Jellyfish
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 x

Jellyfish washed ashore

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Phylum Ctenophera
(aka Comb Jellies)

 Marine, prefer warmer H2O

 About 100 species known
 Size range: few mm to 1.5m
 Medusa contains 8 rows of fused cilia
plates for locomotion
 Some bioluminescent
 Have 2 tentacles; only 1 species
known to have nematocysts
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Locomotion
 Comb plates extend from aboral to oral
end
 Fused cilia along plate which beat from
aboral to oral ends
 All plates beat in unison, moving food
toward mouth
 Two tentacles; long & retractable
 Surface bearing colloblasts which are
sticky
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Nervous & Reproductive
Systems
 No central nervous system
 Statocysts present for balance
 Sensory cells in epidermis
 Individuals are monoecious
 Fertilization external
 Some brood eggs
 Larva free swimming

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Ctenophoran
Body plan

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 Benthic
Ctenophoran


 X
 x

“Tortugas Red”
Comb Jelly
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