Animal Taxonomy

• Ocean Life Forms (BNP):

  1. Benthos - organisms on the seabed
  2. Nekton - organisms that swim
  3. Plankton - organisms that float or drift on the water surface
• Benthos - starfish, corals, and crabs
• Nekton - Fish, squid, shrimp
• Plankton - algae, bacteria, sea urchin, starfish, fish, and crustacean larvae
• Phylum Porifera (from the word pores) - sponges
• Phylum Cnidaria - corals, jellyfish, sea anemone

  
• Phylum Platyhelminthes (Flatworms) - liver fluke, planaria
• Phylum Nematoda (Roundworms) - ascaris
• Phylum Annelida (Segmented worms) - earthworm, leech
• Phylum Mollusca - snail, squid, clam
• Phylum Echinodermata - starfish, sea urchin
• Phylum Arthropoda - jointed legs, biggest group
• Phylum arthropoda is divided into 5 classes: insecta, arachnida, crustacea, diplopoda, chilopoda
• Class insecta - 6 legs
• Class arachnida - 8 legs; spiders, ticks
• Class crustacea - 10 or more legs; crab, lobster, shrimp
• Class Diplopoda (Millipedes) - 2 pairs of legs per segment
• Class Chilopoda (Centipedes) - 1 pair of legs per segment
• Phylum Chordata - notochord, pharyngeal slits, post-anal tail, dorsal hollow nerve cord; examples are sea squirts, lancelets, vertebrates
• Phylum chordata is divided into 2 vertebrates:

  1. Cold-blooded
  2. Warm-blooded
• Cold-blooded vertebrates - poikilothermic or ectothermic (rely on environment for heat)
• Cold-blooded vertebrates are divided into 4 classes:

  1. Chondrichyes (Cartilaginous Fish) - sharks and rays
  2. Oseichthyes (Bony Gish) - all fish except cartilaginous fish
  3. Amphibia - have moist skin; lung-breathing adult stage
  4. Reptilia - have scales, lung-breathing
• Warm-blooded vertebrates - homeothermic/endothermic (can maintain a constantly high body temperature)
• Warm-blooded vertebrates are divided into 2 classes:

  1. Aves (Birds) - have feathers
  2. Mammalia - have hair and mammary glands