Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Lecture - Phylum Cnidaria

Nerve nets in different cnidarian body plans
from Brusca, RC and GJ Brusca. 2003. Invertebrates (2nd edition). Sinauer.

Today we discussed the kinds of cells found in cnidarians, mainly the epitheliomuscular/nutritivemuscular and nerve cells, and their functions.

We then discussed the means of support: Hydrostatic skeleton (mainly in Scyphozoa) and hard skeletons (mainly in Anthozoa). We also discussed the main shapes in the cnidarian bauplan, the polyp and the medusa, and their role in the diversity of cnidarian life cycles.

We started discussing the biology of the cnidarian groups, with the anatomy and a little of the physiology of Scyphozoa.

Next: Hydrozoa and Cubozoa.

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