? Zoanthids
Zoanthid Colony
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Cnidaria Class: Anthozoa Order: Zoanthidea
Families
Epizoanthidae Parazoanthidae Zoanthidae Image File history File links Zoanthid Colony. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Subregnum Bilateria  Acoelomorpha  Orthonectida  Rhombozoa  Myxozoa  Superphylum Deuterostomia     Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Classes Anthozoa - Corals and sea anemones Cubozoa - Sea wasps or box jellyfish Hydrozoa - Hydroids, hydra-like animals Scyphozoa - Jellyfish Cnidaria (from New Latin cnida nematocyst, fr. ... Orders Subclass Alcyonaria (Octocorallia)   Alcyonacea - Soft corals   Gorgonacea - sea fan,sea feather   Helioporacea   Pennatulacea - sea pen, sea pansy   Stolonifera   Telestacea Subclass Ceriantipatharia   Antipatharia - black coral, thorny coral   Ceriantharia - tube-dwelling anemone Subclass Hexacorallia   Actiniaria - Sea anemone   Scleractinia - stony coral Subclass Zoantharia   Corallimorpharia   Ptychodactiaria   Rugosa†   Zoanthidea - zoanthid Anthozoa is a class...

Zoanthids (order Zoanthidea) are a type of soft coral commonly found in coral reefs all around the world. These animals come in a variety of different colonizing formations and in numerous colors. They can be found as individual polyps, attached by a fleshy stolon or a mat that can be created from pieces of sediment, sand and rock. There are a large amount of different morphs of the same or similar species depending on the location on the reef each colony occupies. Different species are even able to cohabitate the same area and even join stolons creating a unique and colourful colony. Like most corals, they are hermatypic and obtain much of their nutrient requirement from symbiotic unicellular algae called zooxanthellae, and so are dependent upon growing in sunlight. As a result, these corals are usually found not far beneath the surface. Scientific classification or biological classification refers to how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Orders see Anthozoa Corals are gastrovascular marine cnidarians (phylum Cnidaria; class Anthozoa) existing as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically forming colonies of many individuals. ... Part of a coral reef. ... The word Animals when used alone, has several possible meanings in the English language. ... This article is about the cnidarian polyps. ... A stolon is an aerial shoot from a plant with the ability to produce adventitious roots and new offshoots of the same plant. ... Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of water or other liquid. ... In biology, polymorphism can be defined as the occurrence in the same habitat of two or more forms of a trait in such frequencies that the rarer cannot be maintained by recurrent mutation alone. ... A stolon is an aerial shoot from a plant with the ability to produce adventitious roots and new offshoots of the same plant. ... Common Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) in their Magnificent Sea Anemone (Heteractis magnifica) home. ... A seaweed (Laurencia) up close: the branches are multicellular and only about 1 mm thick. ... Zooxanthellae are golden-brown endosymbionts of various marine animals and protozoa. ...

Dangers

Zoanthids contain the highly toxic substance palytoxin. Palytoxin is the most toxic organic substance in the world, but there is an ongoing debate over the concentration of this toxin in these animals. However, even in small quantities, the toxin can be fatal should it be ingested or enter the blood stream. There is no known anti-toxin. Palytoxin is an incredibly complex marine natural product containing 71 stereochemical elements. ... A toxin, in a scientific context, is a biologically produced substance that causes injury to the health of a living thing on contact or absorption, typically by interacting with biological macromolecules such as enzymes and receptors. ...

When propagating any type of Zoanthid in home aquaria, it is advisible to have a dedicated workstation and to thoroughly clean all equipment used, especially if any of the polyps should break open. These chemicals are the only thing that Zoanthids have to protect themselves from would be predators. Aquarium is also the name of the Russian band, which is also spelled Akvarium A 335,000 gallon (1. ... A chemical substance is any material substance used in or obtained by a process in chemistry: A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more chemical elements that are chemically combined in fixed proportions. ...

External links

• Learning site and community forum discussing captive care of Zoanthids
• Discussion About The Toxicity of Zoanthids