Anthozoa facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anthozoa Temporal range: late Ediacaran to present
Stony corals
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Class:	Anthozoa
Subclass:	Ceriantharia Hexacorallia Octocorallia

A stony coral in its natural habitat

Giant green anemone, Southern California

Anthozoa are a class in the phylum Cnidaria. It includes the sea anemones and the corals. It is a monophyletic clade, one of two in the Cnidaria. The other is the Medusozoa.

The class does not have a medusa larval stage in its development, unlike the rest of the phylum. Like all Cnidaria, their food-catching and defense are done by nematocysts, which are extremely effective stinging cells. Over 6,100 species have been described.

There are three subclasses:

• Ceriantharia: the tube-dwelling anemones or cerianthids
• Hexacorallia: 4,300 species of colonial polyps, usually with 6-fold symmetry. This includes all of the stony corals, which are vital for coral reef formation, and all sea anemones, and zoanthids.
• Octocorallia: 3,000 species of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans and sea whips).

Images for kids

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  Deep water corals serve as habitats for fish such as the alfonsino

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  Anatomy of a stony coral polyp

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  Giant green anemone, a zooxanthellate species; the tentacles are armed with nematocysts to catch prey

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  White black coral Leiopathes glaberrima with white sea anemones below, both azooxanthellate, deep water species

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  Pocillopora damicornis produces yolky eggs and the planula larvae disperse widely.

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  Biodiverse, multi-coloured habitat

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  Dardanus calidus with Calliactis parasitica

See also

In Spanish: Anthozoa para niños