Animalia
All members of this kingdom are eukaryotic, multicellular organisms. These organisms are heterotrophic and store food within internal cavities such as the stomach. Most organisms of this kingdom are motile, while some, such as many jellyfish, are non motile.
Porifera
Also known as sponges. They are multicellular organisms consisted of many pores and channels to allow the flow of nutrient and food rich water. Sponges lack senses and nervous systems and thus rely on constant water flow throughout their bodies to survive.
Cnidaria
Cnidarians have cnidocytes, specialized cells that they use capturing prey. Their bodies consist of mesoglea, a non-living jelly-like substance.Many cnidarian species produce colonies that are single organisms composed of medusa-like or polyp-like zooids. While many hydrozoans resemble jellyfish, they are in fact classified differently than the Scyphozoans (true jellies)
Ctenophora
The ctenophorans are also similar to jellyfish. Their most distinctive feature is the ‘combs’ – groups of cilia which they use for swimming – they are the largest animals that swim by means of cilia. Adults of various species range from a few millimeters to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) in size. Like cnidarians, their bodies consist of a mass of jelly, with one layer of cells on the outside and another lining the internal cavity.
Platyhelminthes
Platyhelminthes are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrates. Unlike other bilaterians, they are acoelomates (having no body cavity), and have no specialized circulatory and respiratory organs, which restricts them to having flattened shapes that allow oxygen and nutrients to pass through their bodies by diffusion.
Nemertea
Nemertea is a phylum of invertebrate animals also known as "ribbon worms" or "proboscis worms". Alternative names for the phylum have included Nemertini, Nemertinea and Rhynchocoela. Although most are less than 20 centimeters (7.9 in) long, one specimen has been estimated at 54 meters (177 ft). Most are very slim, usually only a few millimeters wide, although a few have relatively short but wide bodies. Many have patterns of yellow, orange, red and green coloration.
Nematoda
The nematodes or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a very broad range of environments. Nematode species can be difficult to distinguish, and although over 25,000 have been described, of which more than half are parasitic, the total number of nematode species has been estimated to be about 1 million. Unlike the phyla Cnidarians and Platyhelminthes (flatworms), nematodes have tubular digestive systems with openings at both ends.
Priapulida
Priapulids are cylindrical worm-like animals, ranging from 0.2-0.3 to 39 centimeters ( 0.08-0.12 to 15.35 in) long, with a median anterior mouth quite devoid of any armature or tentacles. The body is divided into a main trunk or abdomen and a somewhat swollen proboscis region ornamented with longitudinal ridges. The body is ringed and often has circles of spines, which are continued into the slightly protrusible pharynx. Some species may also have a tail or a pair of caudal appendages. The body has a chitinous cuticle that is moulted as the animal grows.
Mollusca
The molluscs or mollusks[ compose the large phylum of invertebrate animals known as the Mollusca. Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. Molluscs are the largest marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. Numerous molluscs also live in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. They are highly diverse, not just in size and in anatomical structure, but also in behaviour and in habitat.
Annelida
The annelids are bilaterally symmetrical, triploblastic, coelomate, invertebrate organisms. They also have parapodia for locomotion. Most textbooks still use the traditional division into polychaetes (almost all marine), oligochaetes (which include earthworms) and leech-like species.
Arthropoda
Arthropods are characterized by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, often mineralised with calcium carbonate. The arthropod body planconsists of segments, each with a pair of appendages. The rigid cuticle inhibits growth, so arthropods replace it periodically by moulting. Their versatility has enabled them to become the most species-rich members of allecological guilds in most environments. They have over a million described species, making up more than 80% of all described living animal species, some of which, unlike most animals, are very successful in dry environments.
Pogonophora
Most pogophorans are less than 1 millimetre (0.04 in) in diameter but 10–75 centimetres (3.9–29.5 in) in length. They inhabit tubular structures composed of chitin and fixed to the bottom. The tubes are often clustered together in large colonies.
The body is divided into four regions. The anterior end is called the cephalic lobe, which bears from 1 to over 200 thin branchial ciliated tentacles, each bearing tiny side branches known as pinnules. Behind this is a glandular forepart, which helps to secrete the tube. The main part of the body is the trunk, which is greatly elongated and bears various annuli, papillae, and ciliary tracts. Posterior to the trunk is the short metamerically segmented opisthosoma, bearing external paired chaetae, which apparently help to anchor the animal to the base of its tube.
The body is divided into four regions. The anterior end is called the cephalic lobe, which bears from 1 to over 200 thin branchial ciliated tentacles, each bearing tiny side branches known as pinnules. Behind this is a glandular forepart, which helps to secrete the tube. The main part of the body is the trunk, which is greatly elongated and bears various annuli, papillae, and ciliary tracts. Posterior to the trunk is the short metamerically segmented opisthosoma, bearing external paired chaetae, which apparently help to anchor the animal to the base of its tube.
Brachiopoda
Brachiopods, phylum Brachiopoda, are marine animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection. Two major groups are recognized, articulate and inarticulate. Articulate brachiopods have toothed hinges and simple opening and closing muscles, while inarticulate brachiopods have untoothed hinges and a more complex system of muscles used to keep the two halves aligned. In a typical brachiopod a stalk-like pedicle projects from an opening in one of the valves, known as the pedicle valve, keeping the animal anchored to the seabed but clear of silt that would obstruct the opening.
Echiura
The Echiura, or spoon worms, are a small group of marine animals. Once treated as a separate phylum, they are now universally considered to represent derived annelid worms, which have lost their segmentation. The majority of echiurans live in shallow water, but there are also deep sea forms. More than 230 species have been described.
Sipunculida
Sipunculans are worm-like animals ranging from 2 to 720 millimeters (0.079 to 28.346 in) in length, with most species being under 10 centimeters (3.9 in). The sipunculan body is divided into an unsegmented trunk and a narrower, retractable anterior section, called the "introvert". Sipunculans have a body wall somewhat similar to that of annelids (though unsegmented) in that it consists of a non-ciliated epidermis overlain by a cuticle, an outer layer of circular and an inner layer of longitudinal musculature.
Echinodermata
Echinoderm is the common name given to any member of the Phylum Echinodermata of marine animals. The adults are recognizable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include such well-known animals as starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea lilies or "stone lilies".
Chordata
Chordates are animals possessing a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, an endostyle, and a post-anal tailfor at least some period of their life cycles. Members of the phylum Chordata are bilaterally symmetric, deuterostome coelomates, and the vertebrate chordates display segmentation.