Cnidaria
Sign in to savethumb|Chrysaora fuscescens|Pacific sea nettles, Chrysaora fuscescens
AI overview
Cnidaria is a group of marine animals that includes jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals, characterized by their stinging tentacles used to capture prey. These animals are important members of ocean ecosystems and some, like corals, form the foundation of diverse underwater habitats that support countless other species.
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Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Subclass of
- invertebrate
- Parent taxon
- Eumetazoa
- Image
- Schleiden-meduse-2.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- P105
- phylum
Article
29 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Distinguishing features
- Description
- Basic body forms
- Skeletons
- Main cell layers
- Polymorphism
- Cnidocytes
- Locomotion
- Nervous system and senses
- Feeding and excretion
- Respiration
- Regeneration
- Reproduction
- Sexual
- Asexual
- DNA repair
- Classification
- Ecology
- Evolutionary history
- Fossil record
- Phylogeny
- Interaction with humans
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- Books
- Journal articles
- External links
thumb|Chrysaora fuscescens|Pacific sea nettles, Chrysaora fuscescens
Cnidaria ( ) is a phylum in kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic invertebrates found both in freshwater and marine environments (predominantly the latter), including jellyfish, hydroids, sea anemones, corals and some of the smallest marine parasites. Their distinguishing features are an uncentralized nervous system distributed throughout a gelatinous body and the presence of cnidocytes or cnidoblasts, specialized cells with ejectable organelles used mainly for envenomation and capturing prey. Their bodies consist of mesoglea, a non-living, jelly-like substance, sandwiched between two layers of epithelium that are mostly one cell thick. Many cnidarian species can reproduce both sexually and asexually.