Marine Invertebrates

Porifera

sponges, filter and clean water, capture plankton and transfer nutrients

Cnidaria

forms: polyp of medusa, corals, sea anenomies, jellyfish

Anthozoa

clade within Cnidaria, anemones and corals, polyp form, filter feeders

Scyphozoa

clade within cnidaria, sea jellies, medusa form, hunt small invertebrates and fishes

Hydrozoa

clade within cnidaria, medusa form, swimming jellies?

Echinodermata

spiny skin, sea stars, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, sea lilies, feather stars

Asteroidea

clade in echinodermata, sea stars, predators

Echinoidea

clade in echinodermata, sea urchin, grazers (shallow photic zone), self sharpening lamina as teeth

Holothuroidea

clade within echinodermata, mostly detritivores, filter feeding with tentacles, respiratory “trees” for nutrient absorption and respiration

Mollusca

clades: bivalvia and gastropoda, filter and clean water, graze algae, build reef structure, breath through gills

Bivalvia

clade in mollusca, filer feeders, no radula, burrowing (infauna) with siphon, benthic (epifauna) add structure

Gastropoda

clade in mollusca, “feeding foot”, radula, most have spiral shells, cowries, limpets, abalones, conch, and terrestrial snails

Arthropoda

subphylum: crustacea

Crustacea

subphylum within arthropoda, krill = base of marine food web, crabs, shrimps and lobsters, scavengers and predators, benthic and pelagic

Annelida

class: polychaeta, segmented worms, suspension feeders, predators, one-way digestion, sexual reproduction, good ecological indicators

Polychaeta

clade in annelida, build reef structure (tube worms), aerate intertidal sediment, filter water and clean substrate, bilateral symetry

Sea anenomes

filter feeders, class anthozoa, polyp form

Decorator anemone

in mid intertidal zone, covers with shells, folds tentacles inwards at low tide

Orange cup coral

Tubastrea, small colonies of large polyps

Green sea urchin

Lytechinus semituberculatus, short green spines, endemic to Galapagos, covering reaction

Long-spined (hatpin) urchin

Diadema, long black spines, carribean die off of these allowed to algal overgrowth, hiding place for fish juveniles

Slate pencil urchin

Eucidaris thouarsii, thick spines that break off and can wash up on shore, have epizootic brittle stars on their spines

Sea stars

predators (especially on bivalves), tube feet, water vascular sys (movement, circulation, gas exchange)

Chocolate chip sea star

Nidorellia

Panamic cushion sea star

Pentaceraster

Blue sea star

Phataria

Sea sun star

Heliaster

Sea cucumbers

clade holothuria, sediment feeders/detritivores, respiratory and feeding “tree”

Stichopus fuscus

sea cucumber, bumpy, yellowish, harvested

Holothuria

soft, black, and sand-covered

Christmas tree worm

Spirobranchus, tube worm, tentacles respire, filter feeder

Ghost crab

Ocypode gaudichaudii, boxy body, eyes on stalks, burrow in sand = sediment aeration, detritivores, prey, (Mr. Krabs from spongebob)

Sally lightfoot crab

Grapsus grapsus, flattened body, eyes not stalked, live on rocks, juveniles dark, adults bright

Hermit crab

shell-less crab, use empty shells as a home, nocturnal, intertidal, shallow subtidal scavenger

Barnacles

crustacean, cement to rock for stabilization, filter feeder, roof closes at low tide