|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|||
|
Click on images for larger format |
||||
Name derivation: |
||||
|
"Comb-bearers" -- Comb Cteno- bearers -phores |
||||
Morphology: |
||||
|
Soft "jelly-like" bodies bearing eight rows of cilia that refract light into a rainbow of spectra. Some are bioluminescent. Size is from a few centimeters to nearly 1 m. The large forms are the largest animals to be propelled by cilia. |
||||
Similar genera: |
||||
|
Cnidaria, or "jellyfish", have stinging cells instead of cilia.
|
||||
Habitat: |
||||
|
Marine plankton. Often overlooked in plankton net hauls because their soft bodies are shredded by the long hauls and water pressure, so their remains pass through the net pores. |
||||
References: |
||||
|
|
||||
