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Anthozoas

      Anthozoa is a class within the phylum Cnidaria that contains the sea anemones and corals. Unlike other cnidarians, anthozoans do not have a medusa stage in their development. Instead, they release sperm and eggs that form a planula, which attaches to some substrate on which the cnidarian grows. Some anthozoans can also reproduce asexually through budding. Like those of other cnidarians, the individual polyps have a cylindrical body crowned by a ring of tentacles surrounding the mouth. The mouth leads into a tubular pharynx which descends for some distance into the body before opening into the gastrovascular cavity that fills the interior of the body and tentacles. Unlike other cnidarians, however, the cavity is subdivided by a number of radiating partitions, or mesenteries. The gonads are also located within the cavity walls. All cnidarian species can feed by catching prey with nematocysts; sea anemones are capable of catching fish and corals of catching plankton. Some of the species also harbour a type of algae, dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae, in a symbiotic relationship; the reef building corals known as hermatypic corals rely on this symbiotic relationship particularly. The zooxanthellae benefit by using nitrogenous waste and carbon dioxide produced by the host or , and the cnidarian gains photosynthetic capability and increased calcium carbonate production in hermatypic corals. Anemones and certain species of coral live in isolation, however most corals form colonies of genetically identical polyps; these polyps closely resemble anemonies in structure, although are generally considerably smaller. Most kinds of stony coral live in all parts of the underwater world.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthozoa

A sketch of the anthozoan polype
Source: http://www.taxateca.com/claseanthozoa.html
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1555
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF2583
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1757
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1413
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1527
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1525
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1573
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1528
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1526
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF2413
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1808
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1407
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1517
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1565
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1529
Heliocoenia vadosa Počta, 1887 HF1694
Heliocoenia variabilis Etallon, 1859 HF893
Heliocoenia variabilis Etallon, 1859 HF1050
Heliocoenia variabilis Etallon, 1859 HF1217
Heliocoenia variabilis Etallon, 1859 HF2864

Virtual museum of the Czech Geological Survey, www.geology.cz, (C) Czech Geological Survey, 2011, v.0.99 [13.12.2011]