Siphonophorae
Siphonophorae (from Ancient Greek σίφων (siphōn), meaning "tube" and -φόρος (-phóros), meaning "bearing") is an order within Hydrozoa, a class of marine organisms within the phylum Cnidaria. According to the World Register of Marine Species, the order contains 175 species described thus far. Siphonophores are highly polymorphic and complex organisms. Although they may appear to be individual organisms, each specimen is in fact a colonial organism composed of medusoid and polypoid zooids that are morphologically and functionally specialized. Zooids are multicellular units that develop from a single fertilized egg and combine to create functional colonies able to reproduce, digest, float, maintain body positioning, and use jet propulsion to move. Most colonies are long, thin, transparent floaters living in the pelagic zone. Like other hydrozoans, some siphonophores emit light to attract and attack prey. While many sea animals produce blue and green biolumines ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hydrozoa
Hydrozoa (hydrozoans; from Ancient Greek ('; "water") and ('; "animals")) is a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class (biology), class of individually very small, predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most of which inhabit saline water. The colony (biology), colonies of the colonial species can be large, and in some cases the specialized individual animals cannot survive outside the colony. A few genus, genera within this class live in freshwater ecosystem, freshwater habitats. Hydrozoans are related to jellyfish and corals, which also belong to the phylum (biology), phylum Cnidaria. Some examples of hydrozoans are the freshwater jelly (''Craspedacusta sowerbyi''), freshwater polyps (''Hydra (genus), Hydra''), ''Obelia'', Portuguese man o' war (''Physalia physalis''), chondrophores (Porpitidae), and pink-hearted hydroids (''Tubularia''). Anatomy Most hydrozoan species include both a polyp (zoology), polypoid and a medusa (biology), medusoid stage in their Biological ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Calycophorae
Calycophorae is a suborder of Siphonophorae, Siphonophores alongside two other suborders Physonectae and Cystonectae. This suborder includes the giant siphonophore, (''Praya dubia''); one of the longest lengthwise extant creatures (40–50m). While the Physonectae have a pneumatophore (a float), nectophore (or nectosome), and a siphosome, Cystonectae lack a nectophore, and Calycophorae lack a pneumatophore. From the bell-shaped nectophores, Physonectae and Calycophorae are called Codonophores or Greek for bell-bearers. The distribution, Morphology (biology), morphology, and behaviors of Calycophorae species are vast and greatly depend on the species. Calycophoraes typically consist of two nectophores with a siphosome that have many tentacles that grow out of the siphosome. The Calycophoraes move by propelling water out of the nectophore much like how jellyfishes move. The tentacles act as fishing nets where the nematocysts on the tentacles paralyze their prey which are then later ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Physonectae
Physonectae is a suborder of siphonophores. Organisms in the suborder Physonectae follow the classic Siphonophorae, Siphonophore body plan. They are almost all pelagic, and are composed of a colony of specialized zooids that originate from the same fertilized egg. Distribution The majority of physonect siphonophores are pelagic, with the exception of Rhodaliidae, Rhodallidae, which are a family of benthic physonects first collected during the Challenger expedition, ''Challenger'' expedition and described by Ernst Haeckel, Ernst Haekel in his ''Challenger'' monograph. Physonects, and siphonophores in general, are known to be widely distributed globally, but are understudied. Few individuals have been collected and are often misidentified. As a result, their exact global distributions are unclear. Morphology All physonect siphonophores have an Anatomical terms of location, aboral, apical pneumatophore filled with gas, which is formed by invagination of the superficial cell l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cystonectae
Cystonectae is a suborder of siphonophores.Schuchert, P. (2019). World Hydrozoa Database. Cystonectae. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=135334 on 2019-03-11 It includes the Portuguese man o' war (''Physalia physalis'') and '' Bathyphysa conifera''. In Japanese, it is called (). The typical cystonect body plan has a pneumatophore (float) and siphosome (line of polyps) but no nectosome (propulsion medusae Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals, althoug ...). References Siphonophorae Cnidarian suborders Taxa named by Ernst Haeckel Taxa described in 1887 {{Siphonophorae-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rhizophysa Eysenhardtii
''Rhizophysa'' is a genus of cnidarians belonging to the family Rhizophysidae. The species of this genus are found in Malesia Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the Equator and the boundaries of the Indomalayan and Australasian realms. It is a phytogeographical floristic region in the Paleotropical kingdom. It was first recognized as a distinct region ..., Northern America. Species: *'' Rhizophysa chamissonis'' *'' Rhizophysa eysenhardtii'' *'' Rhizophysa filiformis'' *'' Rhizophysa uvaria'' References Rhizophysidae Hydrozoan genera {{Siphonophorae-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zooid
A zooid or zoöid is an animal that is part of a colonial animal. This lifestyle has been adopted by animals from separate unrelated taxa. Zooids are multicellular; their structure is similar to that of other solitary animals. The zooids can either be directly connected by tissue (e.g. corals, Catenulida, Siphonophorae, Pyrosome or Ectoprocta) or share a common exoskeleton (e.g. Bryozoa or Pterobranchia). The colonial organism as a whole is called a ''zoon'' , plural ''zoa'' (from Ancient Greek meaning animal; plural , ). Zooids can exhibit polymorphism. For instance, extant bryozoans may have zooids adapted for different functions, such as feeding, anchoring the colony to the substratum and for brooding embryos. However, fossil bryozoans are only known by the colony structures that the zooids formed during life. There are correlations between the size of some zooids and temperature. Variations in zooid size within colonies of fossils can be used as an indicator of th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Apolemia
''Apolemia'' is a genus of siphonophores. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Apolemiidae. Despite appearing to be a single multicellular organism, they are actually a floating colony of polyps and medusoids, collectively known as zooids. Research history The genus ''Apolemia'', named by Baltic-German physician and naturalist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, was first documented in 1815 with the discovery and description of ''Apolemia uvaria'' (the "string jellyfish"), by French naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur off the coast of Europe. It was displaying a net-like feeding pattern in the pelagic zone, and was documented to have rows of nematocysts. Few species have been well-defined within the genus otherwise. In 2020 researchers working off the coast of Western Australia came across an ''Apolemia'' which had coiled itself into a spiral form. The outer "ring" was estimated to be 47 meters (154 feet) long, with an estimated total length of 119 meters (390 feet). Thi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Erenna
''Erenna'' is a genus of cnidarians Cnidaria ( ) is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic invertebrates found both in fresh water, freshwater and marine environments (predominantly the latter), including jellyfish, hydroid (zoology), hydroids, ... belonging to the family Erennidae. The species of this genus are found in Europe and Northern America and Southeast Asia. E. insidiator sp. nov. and E. sirena sp. nov. are two new species of Erenna that were discovered near California and Mexico. This discovery has allowed for the identification of three different types of tentilla on tentacles. Species: *'' Erenna cornuta'' *'' Erenna insidiator'' *'' Erenna laciniata'' *'' Erenna richardi'' *'' Erenna sirena'' References Erennidae Hydrozoan genera {{Siphonophorae-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nanomia
''Nanomia'' is a genus of cnidarians belonging to the family Agalmatidae. The genus has almost cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, a cosmopolitan distribution is the range of a taxon that extends across most or all of the surface of the Earth, in appropriate habitats; most cosmopolitan species are known to be highly adaptable to a range of climatic and en .... Species: *'' Nanomia bijuga'' *'' Nanomia cara'' References Agalmatidae Hydrozoan genera {{Siphonophorae-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Medusa (biology)
Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals, although a few are anchored to the seabed by stalks rather than being motile. They are made of an umbrella-shaped main body made of mesoglea, known as the ''bell'', and a collection of trailing tentacles on the underside. Via pulsating contractions, the bell can provide propulsion for locomotion through open water. The tentacles are armed with stinging cells and may be used to capture prey or to defend against predators. Jellyfish have a complex life cycle, and the medusa is normally the sexual phase, which produces planula larvae. These then disperse widely and enter a sedentary polyp phase which may include asexual budding before reaching sexual maturity. Jellyfish are found all over the world, from surface waters to the deep sea. S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Praya Dubia
''Praya dubia'', the giant siphonophore, lives in the mesopelagic zone to bathypelagic zone at to below sea level. It has been found off the coasts around the world, from Iceland in the North Atlantic to Chile in the South Pacific. ''Praya dubia'' is a member of the order Siphonophorae within the class Hydrozoa. With a body length of up to , it is the second-longest sea organism after the bootlace worm. Its length also rivals the blue whale, the sea's largest mammal, although ''Praya dubia'' is as thin as a broomstick. A siphonophore is not a single, multi-cellular organism, but a colony of tiny biological components called zooids, each having evolved with a specific function. Zooids cannot survive on their own, relying on symbiosis in order for a complete ''Praya dubia'' specimen to survive. Description ''Praya dubia'' zooids arrange themselves in a long stalk—usually whitish and transparent (though other colours have been seen)—known as a physonect colony. The larger ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |