Invertebrates

Life Without a Backbone

Invertebrates
– Are animals that lack a backbone
– Account for 95% of known animal
species
 Porifera
phylogeny

Cnidaria

Other bilaterians (including

choanoflagellate
Nematoda, Arthropoda,

Ancestral colonial
Mollusca, and Annelida)

Eumetazoa Echinodermata
Bilateria
A review of animal

Chordata
Deuterostomia
Sponges (Porifera)

• Sponges are sessile and have a

porous body
• Sponges
– Live in both fresh and marine waters
– Lack true tissues and organs
Sponge Anatomy

31.1
 Sponges are suspension
feeders
– Capturing food particles suspended in
the water that passes through their
body
Azure vase sponge (Callyspongia
plicifera)
4 Spongocoel. Water
passing through porocytes
enters a cavity called the
spongocoel.
3 Porocytes. Water enters
the epidermis through
channels formed by
porocytes, doughnut-shaped
cells that span the body wall.
2 Epidermis. The outer
layer consists of tightly
packed epidermal cells.
1 Mesohyl. The wall of this
simple sponge consists of
two layers of cells separated
by a gelatinous matrix, the
mesohyl (“middle matter”).
5
Choanocytes. The spongocoel
is lined with feeding cells called
choanocytes. By beating flagella,
the choanocytes create a current that
draws water in through the porocytes.
Osculum
Spicules
Water
flow
Flagellum
Food particles Choanocyte
Collar in mucus
Phagocytosis of
food particles Amoebocyte
6
The movement of the choanocyte
flagella also draws water through its
collar of fingerlike projections. Food
particles are trapped in the mucus
coating the projections, engulfed by
phagocytosis, and either digested or
transferred to amoebocytes.
7 Amoebocyte. Amoebocytes
transport nutrients to other cells of
the sponge body and also produce
materials for skeletal fibers (spicules).
31.1
Cnidarians
• Exhibit a relatively simple diploblastic,
radial body plan
• Have a sac with a central digestive
compartment, the gastrovascular
cavity
– A single opening in this cavity functions as
both mouth and anus

31.2
 Examples

(b) Many species of jellies (class
Scyphozoa), including the
species pictured here, are
bioluminescent. The largest
scyphozoans have tentacles
more than 100 m long
dangling from a bell-shaped
body up to 2 m in diameter.
(a) These colonial polyps are members of
class Hydrozoa.
(c) The sea wasp (Chironex (d) Sea anemones and other
fleckeri) is a member of members of class Anthozoa
class Cubozoa. Its poison, exist only as polyps.
which can subdue fish and
other large prey, is more
potent than cobra venom.
Most animals have bilateral
symmetry
The vast majority of animal species
belong to the clade Bilateria
– Which consists of animals with bilateral
symmetry and triploblastic development
 Flatworms
• Members of phylum Platyhelminthes
– Live in marine, freshwater, and damp
terrestrial habitats
– Are flattened dorsoventrally and have a
gastrovascular cavity
– Are bilaterally symmetrical
• Although flatworms undergo
triploblastic development
– They are acoelomates
31.3
Flatworms are divided into four
classes
 Molluscs
• Phylum Mollusca
– Includes snails and slugs, oysters and clams,
and octopuses and squids
– Most molluscs are marine though some
inhabit fresh water and some are terrestrial
– Molluscs are soft-bodied animals but most
are protected by a hard shell

31.4
 • All molluscs have a similar body plan
with three main parts
– A muscular foot
– A visceral mass (guts)
– A mantle

31.4 Scallop
 Annelids

• Phylum Annelida
• Annelids
– Have bodies composed of a series of
fused rings

31.5
 Annelids

31.5
 Nematodes

• Phylum Nematoda
• Nematodes are nonsegmented
pseudocoelomates covered by a tough
cuticle
– Among the most widespread of all
animals, nematodes, or roundworms, are
found in most aquatic habitats, in the soil,
in moist tissues of plants, and in the body
31.6
fluids and tissues of animals
 • The cylindrical bodies of nematodes
are covered by a tough coat called a
cuticle

25 µm
31.6
 • Some species of nematodes
– Are important parasites of plants and
animals
Encysted juveniles Muscle tissue 50 µm

Trichinosis is
caused by eating
uncooked or
undercooked pork

31.6 Trichinella
 Arthropods
• Arthropods are segmented coelomates
that have an exoskeleton and jointed
appendages
• Two out of every three known species
of animals are arthropods
• Members of the phylum Arthropoda
– Are found in nearly all habitats of the
biosphere

31.7
 General Characteristics of
Arthropods
• The diversity and success of
arthropods
– Are largely related to their
segmentation, hard exoskeleton, and
jointed appendages

31.7
 • Early arthropods, such as trilobites
– Showed little variation from segment to
segment

31.7
 • As arthropods evolved
– The segments fused, and the
appendages became more specialized
• The appendages of some living
arthropods
– Are modified for many different
functions

31.7
• The body of an arthropod
– Is completely covered by the cuticle, an
exoskeleton made of chitin
• When an arthropod grows
– It molts its exoskeleton in a process called
ecdysis

31.7
 – Arthropods have an open circulatory
system in which fluid called hemolymph is
circulated into the spaces surrounding the
tissues and organs
– A variety of organs specialized for gas
exchange have evolved in arthropods

31.7
 Insects
• Are more species-rich than all other forms
of life combined
• Live in almost every terrestrial habitat and
in fresh water
• Flight is obviously one key to the great
success of insects
– An animal that can fly can escape predators,
find food, and disperse to new habitats much
faster than organisms that can only crawl

31.8
 Echinoderms
• Phylum Echinodermata
• Sea stars and most other
echinoderms
– Are slow-moving or sessile marine
animals
• A thin, bumpy or spiny skin
– Covers an endoskeleton of hard
calcareous plates
• The radial anatomy of many
31.9 echinoderms
Example
Echinoder
ms

31.9