| Palythoa heliodiscus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Anthozoa |
| Order: | Zoantharia |
| Family: | Sphenopidae |
| Genus: | Palythoa |
| Species: | P. heliodiscus |
| Binomial name | |
| Palythoa heliodiscus (Ryland & Lancaster, 2003) | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
Protopalythoa heliodiscusRyland & Lancaster, 2003 | |
Palythoa heliodiscus, the sunray zoanthid, is a species of cnidarian in the family Sphenopidae. [1] [2]
Cnidaria is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter.
Velella is a monospecific genus of hydrozoa in the Porpitidae family. Its only known species is Velella velella, a cosmopolitan free-floating hydrozoan that lives on the surface of the open ocean. It is commonly known by the names sea raft, by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella.
Staurozoa is a class of Medusozoa, jellyfishes and hydrozoans. It has one extant order: Stauromedusae. A fossil group called Conulariida has been proposed as a second order, although this is highly speculative. The extinct order is largely unknown and described as a possibly cnidarian clade of marine life with shell-like structures, the Conulariida. Staurozoans are small animals that live in marine environments, usually attached to seaweeds, rocks, or gravel. They have a large antitropical distribution, a majority found in boreal or polar, near-shore, and shallow waters. Few staurozoans are found in warmer tropical and subtropical water environments of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean basins, but most are known from the Northern Hemisphere. Over the years their number of species has increased, thus right now it is said to have an estimated 50 species.
Henneguya zschokkei is a species of a myxosporean parasite of certain species of salmon of genus Oncorhynchus. It causes milky flesh or tapioca disease.
Aiptasia is a genus of a symbiotic cnidarian belonging to the class Anthozoa. Aiptasia is a widely distributed genus of temperate and tropical sea anemones of benthic lifestyle typically found living on mangrove roots and hard substrates. These anemones, as well as many other cnidarian species, often contain symbiotic dinoflagellate unicellular algae of the genus Symbiodinium living inside nutritive cells. The symbionts provide food mainly in the form of lipids and sugars produced from photosynthesis to the host while the hosts provides inorganic nutrients and a constant and protective environment to the algae. Species of Aiptasia are relatively weedy anemones able to withstand a relatively wide range of salinities and other water quality conditions. In the case of A. pallida and A. pulchella, their hardiness coupled with their ability to reproduce very quickly and out-compete other species in culture gives these anemones the status of pest from the perspective of coral reef aquarium hobbyists. These very characteristics make them easy to grow in the laboratory and thus they are extensively used as model organisms for scientific study. In this respect, Aiptasia have contributed a significant amount of knowledge regarding cnidarian biology, especially human understanding of cnidarian-algal symbioses, a biological phenomenon crucial to the survival of corals and coral reef ecosystems. The dependence of coral reefs on the health of the symbiosis is dramatically illustrated by the devastating effects experienced by corals due to the loss of algal symbionts in response to environmental stress, a phenomenon known as coral bleaching.
The snakelocks anemone is a sea anemone found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The latter population is however sometimes considered a separate species, the Mediterranean snakelocks anemone.
Marine invertebrates are the invertebrates that live in marine habitats. Invertebrate is a blanket term that includes all animals apart from the vertebrate members of the chordate phylum. Invertebrates lack a vertebral column, and some have evolved a shell or a hard exoskeleton. As on land and in the air, marine invertebrates have a large variety of body plans, and have been categorised into over 30 phyla. They make up most of the macroscopic life in the oceans.
Corallimorpharia is an order of marine cnidarians closely related to stony or reef building corals (Scleractinia). They occur in both temperate and tropical climates, although they are mostly tropical. Temperate forms tend to be very robust, with wide and long columns, whereas tropical forms tend to have very short columns with a wide oral disc and very short tentacles. The tentacles are usually arranged in rows radiating from the mouth. Many species occur together in large groups, although there are recorded instances of individuals. In many respects, they resemble the stony corals, except for the absence of a stony skeleton. Morphological and molecular evidence suggests that they are very closely related to stony corals.
Corallimorphus is a genus of colonial anthozoans similar in appearance to sea anemones and in body format to scleractinian stony corals. These animals are cnidarians in the family Corallimorphidae. Members of the genus live off the Pacific coast of the US.
Monobrachium is a genus of hydroids. These marine cnidarians form the only genus of the monotypic family Monobrachiidae.
Stolonifera is a suborder of soft corals in the order Alcyonacea. Members of this taxon are characterised by having separate polyps budding off an encrusting horizontal, branching stolon. The skeletons include spicules or consists of a horny external cuticle. These soft corals are found in shallow tropical and temperate seas.
Porpita is genus of hydrozoans in the family Porpitidae. It has two species recognized and is the type genus of its family.
Daphne Gail Fautin was an American professor of invertebrate zoology at the University of Kansas, specializing in sea anemones and symbiosis. She is world-renowned for her extensive work studying and classifying sea anemones and related species. A large sea anemone-like cnidarian species has been named in her honor, originally called Boloceroides daphneae, but recently renamed to Relicanthus daphneae, after it was discovered to belong to a previously unknown cnidarian order. Fautin has published numerous scientific articles and texts—including co-authoring Encyclopædia Britannica's entry on cnidarians—and her publications have been widely cited by other researchers in the field. Among her current positions, she is the curator of the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and serves as vice president and commissioner of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, overseeing the naming of new species.
Palythoa is a genus of anthozoans in the order Zoantharia.
Baeolidia palythoae is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Aeolidiidae found in South Africa.
Palythoa toxica, also referred to by its Hawaiian common name, limu-make-o-Hana, is a species of zoanthid native to Hawaii. It is notable as the species in which palytoxin was discovered and from which it was first isolated.
Baeolidia ransoni is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Aeolidiidae.
Spirularia is an order of marine Cnidarians, tube-dwelling anemones, in the subclass Ceriantharia. It is one of the two orders making up Ceriantharia and includes two families, Botrucnidiferidae and Cerianthidae, and around 99 species. The two orders differ in the makeup of their cnidome, the relative sizes of the oral discs and the shape and structure of the mesenteries.
Palythoa mutuki is a species of zoanthid generally found in the Indo-Pacific but also common off the west coast of South America. It occurs at depths ranging between 0 - 28m, being found in both marine and intertidal zones. It was found to hold a higher diversity of associated species than Zoanthus sansibaricus, which inhabits a similar niche. Recent research has indicated that several compounds taken from the ethanolic extract of Palythoa Mutuki have shown strong anti-viral activity towards the dengue virus, which may someday contribute towards a cure for the disease.
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