Scribd
Upload
4 views

scyphozoa assignment mishkat 1

The document provides an overview of the class Scyphozoa, commonly known as true jellyfish, detailing their morphology, life cycle, and ecological significance. It highlights their two body forms, medusae and polyp, and explains their reproductive processes and feeding habits. Additionally, it includes information on their global diversity, classification, and habitat distribution in marine environments.

Uploaded by

sf3841043
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
4 views

scyphozoa assignment mishkat 1

The document provides an overview of the class Scyphozoa, commonly known as true jellyfish, detailing their morphology, life cycle, and ecological significance. It highlights their two body forms, medusae and polyp, and explains their reproductive processes and feeding habits. Additionally, it includes information on their global diversity, classification, and habitat distribution in marine environments.

Uploaded by

sf3841043
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

Submitted by

Mishkat ul Eman
Submitted to
Ma'am Rizwana
Assignment
Invertebrate zoology
Department
BS Zoology 4th semester
Topic
Class scyphozoa with example aurelia
Class scyphozoa with e.g Aurelia.

Introduction:

The Scyphozoans belong to the phylum Cnidaria and well known as true jellyfish.
Jellyfish is the pelagic stage, more conspicuous in the life cycle, while the polypoid
form is restricted to a small sessile stage. The term Scyphozoa was first used by
Lankester in 1881. The scyphozoan jellyfish can be used in antimicrobial medicines
and therapeutic purposes. The fluorescent protein of scyphozoa is as a genetic
marker to detect protein movement or gene expression in developmental,
environmental and medical biology. The jellyfish are potentially good indicators of
ecosystem and climatic changes and mixing of ocean layers.

Morphology:

The structures of Scyphozoans are seen in multiples of four.

Two thin layers of cells, an outer layer (ectoderm) and an inner layer (endoderm)
filled with a jelly-like substance called mesoglea make up their bodies.

The mesoglea layer of the scyphozoa is very thick with the consistency of firm
gelatin. For this reason the class has been given the name “jellyfish.”

Jellyfish have a simple digestive cavity (coelenteron) which acts as a gullet, stomach
and intestine with one opening for the mouth and anus.

There are four to eight oral arms are located near the mouth and are used to
transport food that has been captured by the tentacles.

The inverted bell-shaped morphology of many of the species that make up this class
is referred to as “medusiod.”

The mouth of the Scyphozoa is at the end of a cylinder that is known as the
manubrium.

The nervous system is of the nerve-net type and is synaptic.


Life Cycle:
The true jellyfish have two distinct body forms, medusae and polyp. Both can
reproduce sexually and asexually, and go through five life stages: egg, planula, polyp,
ephyra and medusae. The life cycle of a typical jellyfish involves an alteration of
generations in which the animal passes through two different body forms. The
dominant and conspicuous medusa is the familiar form, while the smaller polyp form
is restricted to the larval stage. The reproductive organs (gonads) develop in the
lining of the gut. During reproduction, the male releases sperm through its mouth
into the water column. The sperm swims into the mouth of the female where
fertilization occurs. Early embryonic development begins either inside the female or
in brood pouches along the oral arms. Small swimming larvae (planula) leave the
mouth or brood pouches and enter the water column and attach to the bottom,
forming polyps. Polyps of some species propagate vegetatively, forming colonies. A
polyp can live for several years, producing clone polyps by budding, and eventually
beginning a process called strobilization that will transform a single polyp into
several organisms. Strobilization is the asexual reproduction process. The free-
swimming, immature medusa is called ephyra. In a few weeks, an ephyra will grow
into an adult medusa, thus completing the complex life cycle. Jellyfish normally live
three to six months. In Chrysaora and Cyanea the larva are retained on the parent in
cysts.

Fossils:
A few possible fossil of scyphozoans have been described from the Vendian (Late
Precambrian), and scattered scyphozoan fossils are known throughout the
Phanerozoic. Rhizostomites was recorded from the Late Jurassic which is about 155
million years ago.

Classification:
Schyphozoans are difficult to study because of their polyp stage. Scientists had been
unable to even locate the polyp stages of most jellyfish until very recently. According
to recent classification, a total of 186 species of scyphozoa belonging to 3 orders, 18
families and 61 genera were recorded from the world oceans.

Food and Feeding:

The scyphozoans have relatively powerful nematocysts and many jellyfish make use
of them to feed on small fish or crustaceans.

Aurelia, is a flagella-mucus feeder. Small animals and plankton are caught on its
tentacles which are then "licked off" the lappets by the oral arms. Currents produced
by the flagella in the grooves on the oral arms carry the particles into the stomach.
Instead of actively searching for prey, they drift in currents, pulsing their way up and
down the water column, capturing mostly herbivorous zooplankton that happen upon
their tentacles.

Habitat:
Scyphozoans are marine invertebrates found in all ocean cold Arctic to the warm tropical
waters. Some species have been observed in surface waters while most species are
restricted to depths greater than 100 m. Most of the species are located close to the equator
in the warm tropical and subtropical waters.

Global Diversity of Scyphozoa


FAMILY GENUS SPECIES

1. Atollidae 1 6

2. Atorellidae 2 10

3. Linuchidae 2 2

4. Nausithoidae 3 25

5. Paraphyllinidae 1 3

6. Periphyllidae 4 6

7. Catostylidae 7 21

8. Lobonematidae 2 3

9. Lychnorhizidae 3 7

10. Rhizostomatidae 4 11

11. Stomolophidae 1 2

12. Cepheidae 1 8

13. Mastigiidae 4 10

14.Thysanostomatidae 5 12

15. Versurigidae 3 3

16. Cyaneidae 4 17

17. Pelagiidae 1 17

18. Ulmaridae 13 23

TOTAL 61 186

You might also like