science

List of marine cnidarians of South Africa

List of marine cnidarians of South Africa is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of marine cnidarians of South Africa rather than just read about it. In short: The list of marine cnidarians of South Africa is a list of saltwater species that form a part of the cnidarian (Phylum Cnidaria) fauna of South Africa. This list does not include the freshwater cnidarians.

Key takeaways

List of marine cnidarians of South Africa belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of marine cnidarians of South Africa to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of marine cnidarians of South Africa from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The list of marine cnidarians of South Africa is a list of saltwater species that form a part of the cnidarian (Phylum Cnidaria) fauna of South Africa. This list does not include the freshwater cnidarians. The list follows the SANBI listing on iNaturalist, and does not always agree with WoRMS for distribution. Cnidaria ( nih-DAIR-ee-ə, ny-) is a phylum of animals containing over 11,000 species of aquatic invertebrates found both in freshwater and marine environments (predominantly the latter), including jellyfish, hydroids, sea anemones, corals and some of the smallest marine parasites. Their distinguishing features are an decentralized nerve net distributed throughout a gelatinous body, and the presence of cnidocytes or cnidoblasts, specialized cells with ejectable organelles used mainly for envenomation and capturing prey. Their bodies consist of mesoglea, a non-living, jelly-like substance, sandwiched between two layers of epithelium that are mostly one cell thick. Many cnidarian species can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Cnidarians mostly have two basic body forms: swimming medusae and sessile polyps, both of which are radially symmetrical with mouths surrounded by tentacles that bear cnidocytes, which are specialized stinging cells used to capture prey. Both forms have a single orifice and body cavity that are used for digestion and respiration. Many cnidarian species produce colonies that are single organisms composed of medusa-like or polyp-like zooids, or both (hence they are trimorphic). Cnidarians' activities are coordinated by a decentralized nerve net and simple receptors. Cnidarians also have rhopalia, which are involved in gravity sensing and sometimes chemoreception. Several free-swimming species of Cubozoa and Scyphozoa possess balance-sensing statocysts, and some have simple eyes. Not all cnidarians reproduce sexually, but many species have complex life cycles of asexual polyp stages and sexual medusae stages. Some, however, omit either the polyp or the medusa stage, and the parasitic classes evolved to have neither form. Cnidarians were formerly grouped with ctenophores, also known as comb jellies, in the phylum Coelenterata, but increasing awareness of their differences caused them to be placed in separate phyla. Most cnidarians are classified into four main groups: the almost wholly sessile Anthozoa (sea anemones, corals, sea pens); swimming Scyphozoa (jellyfish); Cubozoa (box jellies); and Hydrozoa (a diverse group that includes all the freshwater cnidarians as well as many marine forms, and which has both sessile members, such as Hydra, and colonial swimmers (such as the Portuguese man o' war). Staurozoa have recently been recognised as a class in their own right rather than a sub-group of Scyphozoa, and the highly derived parasitic Myxozoa and Polypodiozoa were firmly recognized as cnidarians only in 2007. Most cnidarians prey on organisms ranging in size from plankton to animals several times larger than themselves, but many obtain much of their nutrition from symbiotic dinoflagellates, and a few are parasites. Many are preyed on by other animals including starfish, sea slugs, fish, turtles, and even other cnidarians. Many scleractinian corals—which form the structural foundation for coral reefs—possess polyps that are filled with symbiotic photo-synthetic zooxanthellae. While reef-forming corals are almost entirely restricted to warm and shallow marine waters, other cnidarians can be found at great depths, in polar regions, and in freshwater. Cnidarians are a very ancient phylum, with fossils having been found in rocks formed about 580 million years ago during the Ediacaran period, preceding the Cambrian Explosion. Other fossils show that corals may have been present shortly before 490 million years ago and diversified a few million years later. Molecular clock analysis of mitochondrial genes suggests an even older age for the crown group of cnidarians, estimated around 741 million years ago, almost 200 million years before the Cambrian period, as well as before any fossils. Recent phylogenetic analyses support monophyly of cnidarians, as well as the position of cnidarians as the sister group of bilaterians. (Full article...)

Class Anthozoa, subclass Hexacorallia

Order Actiniaria, suborder Endocoelantheae

Family Halcuriidae

Halcurias capensis Carlgren, 1928

Suborder Nynantheae, infraorder Athenaria

Family Edwardsiidae

Edwardsia capensis Carlgren, 1938

Family Halcampidae

Halcampa capensis Carlgren, 1938 Halcampaster teres Carlgren, 1938 Halianthella annularis Carlgren, 1938 – Brooding anemone

Family Haloclavidae

Haloclava capensis (Verrill, 1865)

Infraorder Thenaria

Superfamily Acontiaria, family Acontiophoridae

Acontiophorum mortenseni Carlgren, 1938

Family Aiptasiidae

Aiptasia parva Carlgren, 1938 – Trumpet anemone

Family Hormathiidae

Actinauge granulata Carlgren, 1928 Amphianthus capensis Carlgren, 1928 Amphianthus laevis Carlgren, 1938 Amphianthus natalensis Carlgren, 1938 Calliactis algoaensis Carlgren, 1938 Calliactis polypus (Forsskål, 1775) Symbiotic anemone Phelliactis algoaensis Carlgren, 1928 Phelliactis capensis Carlgren, 1938

Family Isophellidae

Isophellia algoaensis Carlgren, 1928 Litophellia octoradiata Carlgren, 1938 Telmatactis natalensis Carlgren, 1938

Family Nemanthidae

Nemanthus nitidus (Wassilieff, 1908)

Family Sagartiidae

Anthothoe chilensis (Lesson, 1830) – Striped anemone Anthothoe sp. – Square-mouth striped anemone Phellia aucklandica (Carlgren, 1924) Sagartia ornata (Holdsworth, 1855) – Rooted anemone

Superfamily Endomyaria, family Actiniidae Actinia mandelae – Plum anemone Anemonia natalensis Carlgren, 1938 – Natal anemone Anthopleura anneae Carlgren, 1940 Anthopleura insignis Carlgren, 1940 Anthopleura michaelseni (Pax, 1920) – Crevice anemone Anthostella stephensoni Carlgren, 1938 – Violet spotted anemone Anthostella sp. – Dwarf spotted anemone Bolocera kerguelensis Studer, 1879 Bunodactis reynaudi (Milne Edwards, 1857) – Sandy anemone Bunodosoma capense (Lesson, 1830) – Knobbly anemone Entacmaea quadricolor (Leuckart in Rüppell & Leuckart, 1828) – Bubble-tip anemone Gyractis sesere (Haddon & Shackleton, 1893) – Colonial anemone Korsaranthus natalensis (Carlgren, 1938) – Candy-striped anemone Pseudactinia flagellifera (Hertwig, 1882) – False plum anemone Pseudactinia varia Carlgren, 1938 Urticinopsis crassa Carlgren, 1938

Family Actinodendronidae Actinodendron hansingorum Carlgren, 1900

Family Aliciidae Alicia sansibarensis Carlgren, 1900

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of marine cnidarians of South Africa

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of marine cnidarians of South Africa claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of marine cnidarians of South Africa before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of marine cnidarians of South Africa ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of marine cnidarians of South Africa

In research: List of marine cnidarians of South Africa appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of marine cnidarians of South Africa in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of marine cnidarians of South Africa is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of cnidarians, Marine biota of South Africa, South African animal biodiversity lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of marine cnidarians of South Africa outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “List of marine cnidarians of South Africa” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study List of marine cnidarians of South Africa in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of marine cnidarians of South Africa means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of marine cnidarians of South Africa out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of marine cnidarians of South Africa in simple terms?

Why does List of marine cnidarians of South Africa matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of marine cnidarians of South Africa?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of marine cnidarians of South Africa.