CLASSIFICATION OF ZOANTHUS
KINGDOM :- ANIMALIA ( Multicellular eukaryotic organisms)
PHYLUM :- COELENTRATA OR CNIDARIA (Tissue grade, diploblastic and acoelomate. )
CLASS :- ANTHOZOA OR ACTINOZOA (Only polypoid generation. sedentary, solitary, colonial.)
SUB-CLASS :- HEXACORALLIA (Tentacles and mesenteries in multiple of five or six.)
ORDER :- ZOANTHARIA (Epizoic. Pedal disc and skeleton absent. Mesenteries paired. )
FAMILY :- ZOANTHIDAE
GENUS :- Zoanthus
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
Found in West Indies.
HABIT AND HABITAT
Zoanthus is a colonial sea-anemone springing from an incrusting or stolon like base. Many are epizoic in habit being incrusted on hermit crabs, sponges and hydroids.
GENERAL CHARACTERSTICS OF ZOANTHUS
- Body differentiated into column and oral disc having mouth and marginal tentacles.
- Polyps of colony are united by basal stolons attached to substratum.
- Polyps are clariform, cylindrical, elongated and without foreign bodies on their surfaces.
- Tentacles 48 to 60.
- Mesenteries consist of macro and micro-mesenteries differing from all other anthozoans and having characteristic arrangement.
- Single siphonoglyph present.
- Animals may be colourless or coloured.
- Sexes are separate.
- A sexual reproduction takes place by simple budding from stolon.
IDENTIFICATION
The colony is connected by stolons and has all above characters and hence it is Zoanthus.
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