9 Phyla of Animal Kingdom

• Phylum Porifera :

  • simplest creature and the most primitive animal
  • animals with saclike bodies that have pores
  • filter suspended particles from the water (filter feeders)
  • reproduce asexually by fragmentation and budding
• Phylum Cnidaria :

  • known for having stinging cells called nematocysts
  • bodies have radial symmetry
  • aquatic, sessile or slow-moving animals
  • coral reefs are their skeletal remains
• Phylum Platyhelminthes :

  • flattened, unsegmented, mobile worms
  • bodies are bilaterally symmetrical
  • has a single opening in the body (mouth and anus)
  • most are free-living carnivores, some are parasitic
• Phylum Nematoda :

  • unsegmented roundworms
  • decomposers, free-living and parasitic
  • have body cavity and a complete digestive tract
• Phylum Annelida :

  • segmented, mobile worms
  • bodies are bilaterally symmetrical
  • has complete digestive and closed circulatory system
  • terrestrial, marine, and freshwater
• Phylum Mollusca :

  • soft-bodied animals with a calcium-containing shell
  • foot (muscular portion)
  • visceral mass (soft-bodied portion)
  • mantle (envelope of visceral mass)
• Phylum Arthropoda :

  • most numerous and diverse animals
  • terrestrial and aquatic
  • segmented body with jointed appendage
  • body covered with an exoskeleton made of chitin
• Phylum Echinodermata :

  • do not have heads, brains, or segmentations
  • have spines on the surface of its body
  • adult body ones are bilaterally symmetrical
• Phylum Chordata :

  • presence of notochord
  • dorsal nerve and postnatal tail can be found during embryonic development
  • vertebral column replaces the notochord as these organisms mature