Do ctenophores have Cnidocytes?
Cnidarians have cnidocytes, or stinging cells, which penetrate and inject toxins into their prey, whereas ctenophore tentacles have distinctly different colloblasts, or sticky cells, that are used to entangle prey until they can bring them to their mouth and consume them.
What do ctenophores use bioluminescence for?
Some species of comb jellies (like so many animals in the deep sea) make their own light, called bioluminescence. All comb jellies are carnivores. Sometimes they use sticky structures on long thin tentacles to capture prey larvae of marine invertebrates.
What causes the luminescence of ctenophores?
In ctenophores, bioluminescence is caused by the activation of calcium-activated proteins named photoproteins in cells called photocytes, which are often confined to the meridional canals that underlie the eight comb rows.
Does Pleurobrachia show bioluminescence?
Unlike most other ctenophores, Pleurobrachia lacks a conventional photoprotein and is therefore incapable of producing light. Their bodies are virtually transparent and the many cilia refract the light, producing rainbow-like colors that can give the false appearance of bioluminescence.
What is the lifespan of jellyfish?
Most jellyfish are short lived. Medusa or adult jellyfish typically live for a few months, depending on the species, although some species can live for 2-3 years in captivity. Polyps can live and reproduce asexually for several years, or even decades. One jellyfish species is almost immortal.
Do ctenophores have a polyp stage?
Muggiaea is a type of cnidarian called a Siphonophore. Siphonophores, along with some other medusa forms and some ctenophores, produce bioluminescence when they move. Aglantha does not have a true polyp stage and it reproduces sexually with gonads hanging down from the top of the bell.
Are all ctenophores bioluminescent?
Most (but not all) ctenophores are also bioluminescent, but that light (usually blue or green) can only be seen in darkness.
Are there any ctenophores that are bioluminescent?
Most (but not all) ctenophores are also bioluminescent, but that light (usually blue or green) can only be seen in darkness. I was unable to locate any images of ctenophore bioluminescence to point to on the web; most of the images that claim to show luminescence do not.
How did the ctenophore get its name and function?
Ctenophores get their name from their ctenes, which are tiny comb-like projections set up in rows along the animal that it uses for moving, or locomotion. While most ctenophores are colorless and translucent, some are bioluminescent, giving off biologically produced light—usually green or blue.
What are the features and affinities of Ctenophora?
Affinities 8. Ancestry. 1. Taxonomic History of Ctenophora: In the field of taxonomic zoology, Ctenophora, for a long time, occupies a very important place due to its peculiar organization. (i) Martens, a doctor, first discovered ctenophores in 1671. Linnaeus placed the animals under the group zoophyta.
Where do ctenophores live on the ocean floor?
A few ctenophores (those in the order Platyctenida) live on the bottom or in symbiosis on the surfaces of specific plants or animals. Platyctene ctenophores are nearly always found in warm water (although three species have been found on the cold, deep sea ocean floor) and are usually only a few cm in diameter.
