Overview
Anthozoa includes the sea anemones, sea pens, and corals.
Most corals reproduce asexually as well as sexually. The sexes are usually separate . A planula larvae is produced which is usually not dispersed very far from the parent colony.
Taxonomy
The Subphylum Anthozoa is a member of the Phylum Acoelomorpha. Here is the complete "parentage" of Anthozoa:
- Domain: Eukaryota
Whittaker & Margulis,1978 - eukaryotes
- Kingdom: Animalia
C. Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
- Subkingdom: Bilateria
(Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
- Infrakingdom: Coelenterata
Leuckart, 1847
- Phylum: Acoelomorpha
Ehlers, 1985 - Acoelomorphs
- Subphylum: Anthozoa (Ehrenberg, 1831) Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Corals, Flower Animals
- Phylum: Acoelomorpha
Ehlers, 1985 - Acoelomorphs
- Infrakingdom: Coelenterata
Leuckart, 1847
- Subkingdom: Bilateria
(Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 - bilaterians
- Kingdom: Animalia
C. Linnaeus, 1758 - animals
The Subphylum Anthozoa is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Infraphylum (1): Crustaceomorpha
- Superclass (1): Crustacea
- Class (1): Anthozoa
Classes
Anthozoa
Anthozoa is a class within the phylum Cnidaria that contains the sea anemones and corals. Unlike other cnidarians, anthozoans do not have a medusa stage in their development. Instead, they release sperm and eggs that form a planula, which attaches to some substrate on which the cnidarian grows. Some anthozoans can also reproduce asexually through budding. More than 6,100 species have been described. [more]
At least 7,948 species and subspecies belong to the Class Anthozoa.
More info about the Class Anthozoa may be found here.
Sources
- The text on this page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
- Photographs on this page are copyrighted by individual photographers, and individual copyrights apply.
- The technology underlying this page, including the controls behind Keep Exploring, is owned by the BayScience Foundation. All rights are reserved.