CTENOPHORA

Sea Gooseberry

Integumentary System
Ctenophores are also called comb jellies as they are jelly-like and have tentacles with lateral filaments
embedded with sticky colloblasts for capturing prey. The external parts also include a mouth and anal pores. They are
radially symmetrical and bioluminescent in certain conditions.

Skeletal System
Rather than skeleton found in mammals and other species, ctenophores have hydrostatic skeleton which relies
on a fluid-filled cavity. Because of the lack of permanently rigid structures, creatures with hydrostatic skeletons have a
relatively flexible shape which often enables them to fit through oddly shaped passages. Force is transmitted not
through rigid skeletal elements but instead by internal pressure.

Muscular System
They have delicate muscle fibres that lie beneath the external epithelium and beneath the epithelium of the
canal system, and also traverse the mesoglea in various directions.

Digestive System

MOUTH PHARYNX STOMACH ANAL PORES

 Opening where  Extracellular  Further  Intracellular
digestion starts. digestion digestion digestion

Ctenophores use their tentacles specifically the colloblasts to wipe their prey (e.g. planktons, crustaceans
specifically Hyperia macrocephala, Tomopteris) across their mouth. The food then goes to its pharynx where further
digestion happens. Digestion is extracellular (outside the cell) in the pharynx while in gastrovascular canals, intracellular
(inside the cell) digestion happens. Bulky indigestible foods do go through the pharynx. Instead it exists through the
ctenophore’s mouth. After the pharynx, the food goes through the stomach to continue the digestion of food. Finally,
the waste will go up the aboral pole where 2 anal pores are located. This is where egestion, discharging of undigested or
waste material, takes place.
 Respiratory System
Water from the
outside
environment
There is no specialized respiratory system in ctenophores. Gaseous exchange
takes place through the general body surface or the gastrodermal surface. This
exchange happens through diffusion where in the water from the outside passes
through the skin into the gastrovascular canal. They bring in water for the oxygen
in it. Diffusion does not require energy from the ctenophores but it can only
Gastrodermal bring little amount of oxygen. Ctenophores have low oxygen consumption which
Surface (through is -0.007cm3/hr/g.
diffusion)
Gastrovascular
Canal

Gastrovascular
Canal

Gastrodermal
Surface

Excretory System
Ctenophores do not have a specialized excretory system. Instead, they have 2 anal pores where the ejection of
indigestible matter happens. They also have cell rosettes which consist of a double circle of ciliated gastrodermal cells,
surrounding the openings leading from the gastrovascular canals to the mesoglea. The removing of waste is from the
mesoglea.

Endocrine System
No specialized endocrine system is found in ctenophoras.
 Reproductive System

Testes and
Ovary

Mouth

External
Environment

All of the ctenophores undergo sexual reproduction, except for the class Platyctenida which undergoes asexual
reproduction through budding. Although, all of the ctenophores are able to regenerate as their bodies are extremely
fragile. Most of the phylum consists of hermaphrodites, meaning they possess both the male and female organs. They
are also self-fertile. The season for reproduction is during spring and summer. The gonads develop from the endoderm
in the form of bands in the meridional canal of the gastrovascular system that house the comb rows, with the ovary on
one side and the testes on the other. In here, gametes are released into the aquatic environment with the sperm
releasing first in pulses and then the eggs in burst. In this external environment, the fertilization will take place and will
produce a free-swimming cydippid larva. Additionally, an adult sea gooseberry can produce up to 1,000 eggs a day.

Circulatory System
Ctenophora do not possess a specific circulatory system and organs.

Nervous System
Ctenophores have no brain or central nervous system, but instead have a nerve net (rather like a cobweb) that
forms a ring round the mouth and is densest near structures such as the comb rows, pharynx, tentacles (if present) and
the sensory complex furthest from the mouth. Nerve nets are the simplest form of nervous systems where neurons
scattered from one another instead of being connected. They are usually dense in one area of multicellular organisms.