Marine Invertebrates Vocabulary

Kingdom Animalia

Porifera

  • Example Organisms: Sponges

  • Key Feature: Osculum

  • Reproduction: Asexual or Sexual (hermaphrodites = both male and female gonads)

  • Mode of Feeding: Filter feeder

  • Symmetry: Asymmetrical

Cnidaria

  • Example Organisms: Jellyfish, corals, anemones

  • Reproduction:

    • Jellyfish: Spawning

    • Coral: Asexually

    • Anemone: Sexually

  • Mode of Feeding:

    • Jellyfish: Tentacles surround a central mouth to capture food.

  • Symmetry: Radial

Platyhelminthes

  • Example Organisms: Flatworms

  • Reproduction: Sexually (hermaphrodites, but no self-fertilizing)

  • Mode of Feeding: Feed on small invertebrates.

  • Symmetry: Bilateral

Annelida

  • Example Organisms: Segmented worms

  • Reproduction: Sexually

  • Mode of Feeding: Filter feeding

  • Symmetry: Bilateral

Mollusca

Class Bivalvia

  • Key Feature: Two shells

  • Example Organisms: Clams, oysters, mussels, scallops

  • Reproduction: Spawning

  • Mode of Feeding: Filter feeder

  • Symmetry: Bilateral

Class Gastropoda

  • Key Feature: One shell

  • Example Organisms: Conchs, snails, slugs

  • Reproduction: Asexually

  • Mode of Feeding: Use radula to feed, grazer

  • Symmetry: Bilateral

Class Cephalopoda

  • Key Feature: No shell

  • Example Organisms: Squid, octopus, cuttlefish, nautilus, nudibranchs

  • Reproduction: Sexual

  • Mode of Feeding: Carnivore

  • Symmetry: Bilateral

Arthropoda

Class Crustacea

  • Example Organisms: Crabs, lobsters, shrimp, crayfish, barnacles

  • Reproduction: Sexual

  • Mode of Feeding: Filter feeding, carnivory (catch all)

  • Symmetry: Bilateral

Echinodermata

Class Asteroidea

  • Example Organisms: Sea Stars

  • Reproduction: Spawning

  • Mode of Feeding: Cardiac stomach out mouth to prey use digestive enzymes, use tube feet to capture food particles and bring to mouth.

  • Symmetry: Radial/Pentraradial

Class Ophiuroidea

  • Example Organisms: Brittle stars

  • Reproduction: Sexually

  • Mode of Feeding: Use tube feet to gather food particles and bring to mouth.

  • Symmetry: Radial

Class Echinoidea

  • Example Organisms: Sea urchins, sand dollars

  • Reproduction: Spawning

  • Mode of Feeding: Aristotle's lantern to bite algae and other food off the ocean floor.

  • Symmetry: Radial

Class Holothuroidea

  • Example Organisms: Sea cucumbers

  • Reproduction: Spawning

  • Mode of Feeding: Deposit feeder

  • Symmetry: Radial

Class Crinoidea

  • Example Organisms: Feather stars, sea lilies

  • Reproduction: Spawning

  • Mode of Feeding: Free or attached; feathery arms to obtain food, filter feeders.

  • Symmetry: Radial

Chordata

Subphylum Urochordata

  • Example Organisms: Tunicates or sea squirts/salps

  • Reproduction: External fertilization.

  • Mode of Feeding: Filter feeders

  • Symmetry: Bilateral or Asymmetrical

Subphylum Cephalochordata

  • Example Organisms: Cephalochordates, lancelets of amphioxus

  • Reproduction: Sexually

  • Mode of Feeding: Filter feeding

  • Symmetry: Bilateral