Cnidaria | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Cnidaria is one of the more primitive animal phyla. It includes aquatic organisms such as jellyfish, sea anemones, corals, and hydras. Most cnidarians are marine, although a few, such as the well-known hydra, are freshwater species.

All cnidarians are characterized by radially symmetric body plans, rather than the bilaterally symmetric body plans that are found in most other animal phyla. Although cnidarians are more advanced than sponges (phylum Porifera) in that they possess distinct tissue layers, they lack many of the features of more advanced animal phyla, such as internal organs and central nervous systems. Most cnidarians possess tentacles, and many also have nematocysts (specialized stinging cells). Both are involved in feeding.

Cnidarians are characterized by the presence of three tissue layers, an outer protective epidermis, a middle layer called the mesoglea, and an inner layer called the gastrodermis, whose function is primarily digestive. The mesoglea of cnidarians is not as highly developed as the mesoderm of other animal groups, being primarily gelatinous with only a few fibrous or amoeba-like cells.

Cnidarians possess only one digestive opening, which serves as both the mouth and the anus. This opening is surrounded by tentacles and leads to an internal digestive cavity called the gastrovascular cavity.

Cnidarians feed using tentacles that are embedded with stinging nematocysts. The nematocysts are springing barbs with small hairlike triggers that are activated by contact with prey. Most nematocysts require stimulation in more than one sensory mode before they will fire. For example, a nematocyst may respond only if there is mechanical stimulation from physical contact with the prey as well as chemical stimulation signaling the presence of suitable prey. As nematocysts fire, barbs unfold and become embedded in the tissue of the prey. At the same time, the nematocysts inject the prey with an immobilizing toxin through a long hollow thread within the barb. Once the prey item has been captured and subdued, tentacles are used by the cnidarians to bring the prey item into the gastrovascular cavity. Within the gastrovascular cavity, the food item is broken into small particles by digestive enzymes secreted by gastrodermal cells lining the cavity. The minute particles are then taken in by the gastrodermal cells, and digestion is completed in digestive vacuoles (small cavities) within these cells. The indigestible remnants of the prey are expelled from the mouth of the gastrovascular cavity.

One hypothesis about the origin of nematocysts suggests that they were prokaryotic endosymbionts which lived within eukaryotic cells as mutualists (mutualisms are symbiotic relationships between individuals of two different species, in which members of both species derive benefits from the relationship), the same way organelles (specialized parts of cells) such as mitochondria and chloroplasts are believed to originate.

Unlike more advanced animal phyla, cnidarians lack a central nervous system. Instead, their nerves are organized in nerve nets that cover the entire body. Impulses spread slowly out from the point of stimulation along the nerve net. Some cnidarians, such as jellyfish, have more complicated arrangements of nerves that allow for more complex responses to stimuli as well as more effective patterns of movement.

Cnidarians also lack certain tissue types found in other animal phyla, such as true muscle cells. However, they do have fibers that can contract and therefore can be used in capturing prey and in moving about.

Cnidarians are divided into three major classes. These are the Hydrozoa (hydras and other colony-forming species), the Scyphozoa (jellyfish), and the Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals).

The best-known member of the Hydrozoa is the hydra, a freshwater species. However, the hydra is not a typical hydrozoan. For example,the hydra has only a polyp stage, for example, whereas most hydrozoans have a biphasic (two-stage) life cycle that alternates between a sedentary polyp stage and a mobile, bell-shaped medusa stage. The hydra is not strictly sedentary; it moves in a very unusual way, by turning somersaults. In addition, most hydrozoans are colonial, with each colony arising from the asexual budding of a single individual. Members of a hydrozoan colony have interconnected gastrovascular cavities, and the fluid in this cavity is circulated by cells with long, beating flagella. There is typically some degree of division of labor within the colony. Usually, there are feeding polyps, which possess tentacles and nematocysts (stinging cells), and reproductive polyps, which continually bud off tiny mobile medusas. The medusas swim by tightening and relaxing cells within the bell, and are also scattered by prevailing water currents. Medusas release sperm and eggs directly into the water, where fertilization occurs. The zygote (fertilized egg) develops into what is called a planula larva—the larvae of cnidarians. The larva ultimately settles to the substrate (rocky bottom of the ocean), finds something to anchor to, develops a mouth and tentacles, and becomes a polyp that subsequently buds to form a new colony.

The Scyphozoa includes the well-known jellyfish. In this group, the polyp stage is far less significant than among the Hydrozoa, since the medusa stage is dominant. Scyphozoan medusas grow to sizes considerably larger than those found among the Hydrozoa. They range in size from a few centimeters to over 2 meters across. The nervous systems of jellyfish are also more developed than those of other cnidarians. Instead of a simple nerve net, they have a nerve ring around the edge of the bell portion of the medusa. Neurons throughout the rest of the body connect to this ring. This organization allows for faster conduction of impulses from one side of the body to the other, which in turn allows the jellyfish to swim with coordinated contractions of the entire bell.

The Anthozoa includes the sea anemones and the corals. These species lack the medusa stage altogether, and exist exclusively in the polyp form. Anthozoans tend to have more highly developed contractile cells (cells capable of contracting) than other cnidarians, as well as a more highly developed, thicker mesoglea, which often forms a fibrous connective tissue. Corals secrete a hard, limy skeleton and can form huge reefs, such as the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. Coral reefs are an impressive ecosystem, one of the most diverse and productive on Earth.

Phylogenetic Relationships of Major Groups.

Anderson, Donald Thomas. Atlas of Invertebrate Anatomy. Sydney, Australia: UNSW Press, 1996.

Barrington, Ernest James William. Invertebrate Structure and Function. New York: Wiley, 1979.

Chesher, Richard H. Living Corals. New York: C. N. Potter, 1979.

Clarkson, Euan Neilson Kerr. Invertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. Boston: G. Allen and Unwin, 1979.

Mayer, Alfred Goldsborough. Medusae of the World. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1910.

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