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Polyp = adapted
for sedentary or
sessile life.
Tubular body w/
mouth at one
end surrounded
by tentacles.
May live singly or
in colonies.
Colonial polyps
Medusa
Medusa = jellyfish form, free swimming and sexually
mature form,
bell-shaped or umbrella-shaped bodies,
radial symmetry
mouth centered on concave side, tentacles and one or more
types of sense organs borne on rim of umbrella.
Medusa provides dispersal mechanism so don't
compete with parents. Mesoglea much thicker than in
polyp - constitutes bulk of animal - makes it buoyant
= "jelly" of jellyfish.
Medusa
CNIDARIANS have no
bones, are hollow with 3
layers of cells.
When a cnidarian
reproduces, the young hatch
into the mother stomach,
then, She spits them out.
Classification of Cnidarians
Classes: Scyphozoa, Cubozoa and
Anthozoa
1. Jellyfishes (Classes Scyphozoa and Cubozoa)
are predominantly medusae w/ polyp stage
very reduced or completely absent.
Physalia physalia
Size: to 1 ft (float) and 50 ft (tentacles)
Habitat: floats at the surface
Notes: dangerous
Fortunately, this creature, with its powerful battery of stinging
tentacles, is more common in bays and protected waters than in the
open ocean. The sting of the Man'O'War can vary from extremely
painful to incapacitating to fatal, depending on the severity and the
victim's reaction.
Jellyfish sting to defend themselves.
The Man of War is poisonous to humans.
When a cnidarian
reproduces, the
young hatch into
the mother’s
stomach, then, she
spits them out
Other Dangerous Jellyfish
Moon Jellyfish / Red Jellyfish ( Lion's Mane )
Avoid these.
Swim away
– swim away
NOW! !
Nematocysts
1. Hold prey
2. Sticky -- aid in locomotion by attaching tentacles
3. Penetrate and anchor in prey and poison it.
Nematocysts can be Pretty
Nematocyst poison
Most dangerous to man is Cubozoan jellyfish, the sea
wasp (Chironex fleckeri). Caused more human
suffering and death off Australian coasts than
Physalia (Portuguese man-of-war) has in any of its
home waters.