Cycliophora facts for kids

The Cycliophora are a special group of tiny animals. They are so unique that scientists gave them their very own group, called a phylum. This phylum only has one genus (a smaller group) called Symbion.

Scientists first found Cycliophora in 1995. This makes them the newest animal phylum discovered! So far, only three different species of these tiny creatures have been found.

They live on the bodies of cold-water lobsters. These animals are very small, so you need a microscope to see them. The part that eats is only about 0.3 millimeters long and 0.1 millimeters wide.

Cycliophora have a special way of living with lobsters. It's called commensalism. This means they share food with the lobster. They eat the tiny bits of food that the lobster leaves behind after its own meals.

Life Stages of Cycliophora

Cycliophora have three different body shapes. They also have a two-part life cycle.

• Asexual Feeding Stage – At this stage, the tiny animal is not male or female. It looks like a small sac. It has a sticky disc at one end to attach itself to the lobster. At the other end, it has a mouth (called a ciliated funnel) and an anus for eating and getting rid of waste.
• Sexual Stage – These forms are even smaller than the feeding stage.
  • Male – The male Cycliophora has no mouth or anus. This means it doesn't have a digestive system. It does have two parts for reproduction.
  • Female – The female has a digestive system. This system changes and becomes a larva (a baby form) inside her.

Reproduction

Symbion can make new babies in two ways:

• They can reproduce asexually. This means they can make copies of themselves by budding, like a plant growing a new shoot.
• They can also reproduce sexually. In sexual reproduction, a male attaches to a feeding stage. He then helps a female, who is starting to grow a baby, to become pregnant.

After this, the female separates from the feeding stage. She attaches herself to another lobster. Inside her, the baby larva grows. When the larva is ready, the female dies, and the larva escapes to start its own life.

The sexual reproduction cycle starts when the lobster (which is a crustacean) sheds its old 'shell'. This process is called molting.

See also

In Spanish: Cycliophora para niños