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Information about Gastrotricha

Gastrotrichs
Enlarge picture
Darkfield photograph of a gastrotrich.

Darkfield photograph of a gastrotrich.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Subkingdom:Eumetazoa
(unranked)Bilateria
Superphylum:Platyzoa
Phylum:Gastrotricha
Metschnikoff, 1864
Orders


Macrodasyda
Chaetonotida


The gastrotrichs (from Greek gaster "stomach" and thrix "hair") are a phylum of microscopic (0.06-3.0 mm) animals abundant in fresh water and marine environments. Most fresh water species are part of the periphyton and benthos. Marine species are found mostly interstitially in between sediment particles. They are bilaterally symmetric, with a complete gut. They demonstrate eutely, with development proceeding to a particular number of cells, and further growth coming only from an increase in cell size. The body is covered with cilia, especially about the mouth and on the ventral surface, and has two terminal projections with cement glands that serve in adhesion. This is a double-gland system where one gland secretes the glue and another secretes a de-adhesive to sever the connection. Like many microscopic animals, their locomotion is primarily powered by hydrostatics, and they reproduce entirely by parthenogenesis. Originally they were thought to have a pseudocoel, but this was an artifact created by preservation methods, and they are now known to be acoelomate. Their relationship to other phyla is unclear. Morphology suggests that they are close to the Gnathostomulida, the Rotifera, or the Nematoda. On the other hand genetic studies place them as close relatives of the Platyhelminthes, the Ecdysozoa or the Lophotrochozoa. About 700 species have been described. Its average life span is very short - about three days.

References

Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Eumetazoa
Butschli, 1910

subgroups
  • Placozoa
  • Radiata
  • Bilateria


Eumetazoa is a clade comprising all major animal groups except sponges.
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Bilateria
Hatschek, 1888

Subgroups
  • Deuterostomia
  • Echinodermata (20,000 species)
  • Hemichordata (71 species)
  • Chordata (63,000 species)

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Platyzoa
Cavalier-Smith, 1998

Phyla
  • Platyhelminthes
  • Gastrotricha
  • Gnathifera
  • Rotifera
  • Acanthocephala

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Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov

Born May 16, 1845

Died July 16 1916 (aged 71)

Field Microbiologist
Institutions Odessa University
Alma mater Kharkiv University
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Greek}}} 
Writing system: Greek alphabet 
Official status
Official language of:  Greece
 Cyprus
 European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
 European Union
 Italy
 Turkey
Regulated by:
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Periphyton is a complex matrix of algae, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems. It serves as an important food source for invertebrates, tadpoles, and some fish.
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Benthos are the organisms which live on, in, or near the seabed, also known as the benthic zone.[1] Although the term derived from the Greek for "depths of the sea"<ref name="caml" />, the term is also used in freshwater biology to refer to organisms at
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GUT may refer to:
  • Grand unification theory, one of several unified field theories in physics
  • Gastrointestinal tract, a system of digestive organs
  • Gut, a scientific journal of gastroenterology, part of the British Medical Journal group

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cilium (plural cilia) is an organelle found in eukaryotic cells. Cilia are thin, tail-like projections extending approximately 5–10 micrometers outwards from the cell body.
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Parthenogenesis (from the Greek παρθένος parthenos, "virgin", + γένεσις genesis
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body cavity is any fluid filled space in a multicellular organism. However, the term usually refers to the space, located between an animal’s outer covering (epidermis) and the outer lining of the gut cavity, where internal organs develop.
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Gnathostomulida
Ax, 1956

Orders
  • Filospermoidea
  • Bursovaginoidea


Gnathostomulids, or jaw worms, are a small phylum of nearly microscopic marine animals. Most measure between 0.5 and 1 mm long.
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Rotifera
Cuvier, 1798

Classes
Monogononta
Digononta
The rotifers make up a phylum of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals. They were first described by John Harris in 1696 (Hudson and Gosse, 1886).
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Nematoda
Rudolphi, 1808

Classes

Adenophorea
   Subclass Enoplia
   Subclass Chromadoria
Secernentea
   Subclass Rhabditia
   Subclass Spiruria
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Platyhelminthes
Gegenbaur, 1859

Classes

Monogenea
Trematoda
Cestoda
Turbellaria

The flatworms (Phylum Platyhelminthes from the Greek platy, meaning "flat" and helminth
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Ecdysozoa
Aguinaldo et al., 1997

Phyla
  • Scalidophora (288 species)
  •   Priapulida (16 species)
  •   Kinorhyncha (150 species)

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Lophotrochozoa

Phyla
  • Amiskwia (incertae sedis)
  • Nemertea
  • Phoronida
  • Bryozoa
  • Entoprocta
  • Brachiopoda
  • Sipuncula
  • Hyolitha †
  • Mollusca
  • Annelida
  • Echiura


The Lophotrochozoa
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