第28章無脊椎動物

The class Anthozoa ("flower animals") includes sea anemones (Figure 28.8), sea pens, and corals, with an estimated number of 6,100 described species. Sea anemones are usually brightly colored and can attain a size of 1.8 to 10 cm in diameter. Individual animals are cylindrical in shape and are attached directly to a substrate.

The mouth of a sea anemone is surrounded by tentacles that bear cnidocytes. The slit-like mouth opening and flattened pharynx are lined with ectoderm. This structure of the pharynx makes anemones bilaterally symmetrical. A ciliated groove called a siphonoglyph is found on two opposite sides of the pharynx and directs water into it. The pharynx is the muscular part of the digestive system that serves to ingest as well as egest food, and may extend for up to two-thirds the length of the body before opening into the gastrovascular cavity. This cavity is divided into several chambers by longitudinal septa called mesenteries. Each mesentery consists of a fold of gastrodermal tissue with a layer of mesoglea between the sheets of gastrodermis. Mesenteries do not divide the gastrovascular cavity completely, and the smaller cavities coalesce at the pharyngeal opening. The adaptive benefit of the mesenteries appears to be an increase in surface area for absorption of nutrients and gas exchange, as well as additional mechanical support for the body of the anemone.

Sea anemones feed on small fish and shrimp, usually by immobilizing their prey with nematocysts. Some sea anemones establish a mutualistic relationship with hermit crabs when the crab seizes and attaches them to their shell. In this relationship, the anemone gets food particles from prey caught by the crab, and the crab is protected from the predators by the stinging cells of the anemone. Some species of anemone fish, or clownfish, are also able to live with sea anemones because they build up an acquired immunity to the toxins contained within the nematocysts and also secrete a protective mucus that prevents them from being stung.

The structure of coral polyps is similar to that of anemones, although the individual polyps are usually smaller and part of a colony, some of which are massive and the size of small buildings. Coral polyps feed on smaller planktonic organisms, including algae, bacteria, and invertebrate larvae. Some anthozoans have symbiotic associations with dinoflagellate algae called zooxanthellae. The mutually beneficial relationship between zooxanthellae and modern corals—which provides the algae with shelter—gives coral reefs their colors and supplies both organisms with nutrients. This complex mutualistic association began more than 210 million years ago, according to a new study by an international team of scientists. That this symbiotic relationship arose during a time of massive worldwide coral-reef expansion suggests that the interconnection of algae and coral is crucial for the health of coral reefs, which provide habitat for roughly one-fourth of all marine life. Reefs are threatened by a trend in ocean warming that has caused corals to expel their zooxanthellae algae and turn white, a process called coral bleaching.

Anthozoans remain polypoid (note that this term is easily confused with "polyploid") throughout their lives and can reproduce asexually by budding or fragmentation, or sexually by producing gametes. Male or female gametes produced by a polyp fuse to give rise to a free-swimming planula larva. The larva settles on a suitable substratum and develops into a sessile polyp.

Class Scyphozoa ("cup animals") includes only marine jellies, with about 200 known species. The medusa is the prominent stage in the life cycle, although there is a polyp stage in the life cycle of most species. Most jellies range from 2 to 40 cm in length but the largest scyphozoan species, Cyanea capillata, can reach a size of two meters in diameter. Scyphozoans display a characteristic bell-like morphology (Figure 28.9).

In the sea jelly, a mouth opening is present on the underside of the animal, surrounded by hollow tentacles bearing nematocysts. Scyphozoans live most of their life cycle as free-swimming, solitary carnivores. The mouth leads to the gastrovascular cavity, which may be sectioned into four interconnected sacs, called diverticuli. In some species, the digestive system may branch further into radial canals. Like the septa in anthozoans, the branched gastrovascular cells serve two functions: to increase the surface area for nutrient absorption and diffusion, and to support the body of the animal.

In scyphozoans, nerve cells are organized in a nerve net that extends over the entire body, with a nerve ring around the edge of the bell. Clusters of sensory organs called rhopalia may be present in pockets in the edge of the bell. Jellies have a ring of muscles lining the dome of the body, which provides the contractile force required to swim through water, as well as to draw in food from the water as they swim. Scyphozoans have separate sexes. The gonads are formed from the gastrodermis and gametes are expelled through the mouth. Planula larvae are formed by external fertilization; they settle on a substratum in a polypoid form. These polyps may bud to form additional polyps or begin immediately to produce medusa buds. In a few species, the planula larva may develop directly into the medusa. The life cycle (Figure 28.10) of most scyphozoans includes both sexual medusoid and asexual polypoid body forms.