CLASSIFICATION OF CERATELLA
PHYLUM :- COELENTRATA (Tissue grade, diploblastic and acoelomate. )
CLASS :- HYDROZOA (Hydroids containing medusa with velum.)
ORDER :- HYDROIDEA (Polypoid generation well developed. )
SUB-ORDER :-ATHECATA (Hydrotheca absent.)
GENUS :- Ceratella
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
Cosmopolitan, but most common in India, Canada and U.S.A.
HABIT AND HABITAT
Ceratella is a colonial. Sedentary hydroid coelenterate.
GENERAL CHARACTERSTICS OF CERATELLA
- Tree like and highly branched.
- Branches arising from central axis or hydrorhiza are intertwining and anastomosing.
- Ceratella has sea fan like appearance.
- Hydrothecae cover polyps and gonothecae enclose medusae.
- Medusae bear gonads on the manubrium and devoid of lithocytes.
- Eye-spots are present.
IDENTIFICATION
The specimen has anastomosing fern-like appearance and all above features hence it is Ceratella.
