Siphonophore
The Siphonophores are an order of cnidarian invertebrates in the class Hydrozoa. The Portuguese man o' war is an example.
A siphonophore is not a single animal. It is a colony of four kinds of zooids. Zooids are very small, highly modified individuals. All the zooids in a colony are genetically identical. These zooids are specialized polyps and medusoids.[2]
Though structurally similar to other cnidarians, the zooids do not live by themselves: they are attached to each other. Each type of zooid is not self-sufficient. It depends for survival on the others doing what it cannot do by itself.
So close do the zooids fit together that the colony looks like a single individual. It was a triumph of 19th century biology to discover the real nature of the siphonophores.
Siphonophore Media
Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis)
Video taken at a depth of 612 metres of the siphonophore Nanomia bijuga See full-size image for index to numbers. * "Strobalia cupola" (Haeckel) = Forskalia sp.?, colony * "Strobalia cupola" (Haeckel) = Forskalia sp.?, gas bladder from above * "Strobalia cupola" (Haeckel) = Forskalia sp.?, polyp/medusae cluster with all but the feeding apparatus and cover removed * "Strobalia cupola" (Haeckel) = Forska
References
- ↑ Siphonophores Retrieved 2011-10-01.
- ↑ Grzimek B. Schlager N. & Olendorf D. 2003. Grzimek's Animal life encyclopaedia. Thomson Gale.