Blog
Save
Email
Print
ShareThe rotifers make up a phylum of microscopic, and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals.
There are a variety of different shapes of rotifer.
There is a well-developed cuticle which may be thick and rigid, giving the animal a box-like shape, or flexible, giving the animal a worm-like shape.
Most rotifers are around 0.1-0.5 mm long, and are common in freshwater throughout the world with a few saltwater species.
Rotifers may be free swimming and truly planktonic, others move by inchworming along the substrate whilst some are sessile, living inside tubes or gelatinous holdfasts.
About 25 species are colonial, either sessile or planktonic.
Rotifers get their name (derived from Latin and meaning "wheel-bearer"; they have also been called wheel animalcules) from the corona, which is composed of several ciliated tufts around the mouth that in motion resemble a wheel.
These create a current that sweeps food into the mouth, where it is chewed up by a characteristic pharynx (mastax) containing tiny jaws.
It also pulls the animal, when unattached, through the water.
Most free-living forms have pairs of posterior toes to anchor themselves while feeding.
For more information about the topic Rotifer, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:
Animal — Animals are a major group of organisms, classified as the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. In general they are multicellular, capable of locomotion and ... > read more
Flatworm — The flatworms are a phylum of relatively simple soft-bodied invertebrate animals. With about 25,000 known species they are the largest phylum of ... > read more
Neon tetra — The neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi) is a freshwater fish of the characin family (family Characidae) of order Characiformes. The type species of its ... > read more
Sponge — The sponges or poriferansare animals of the phylum Porifera. They are primitive, sessile, mostly marine, waterdwelling filter feeders that pump water ... > read more
Vertebrate — Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata (within the phylum Chordata), specifically, those chordates with backbones or spinal columns. ... > read more
Giant clam — The Giant Clam (Tridacna gigas) is the largest living bivalve mollusc. One of a number of large clam species native to the shallow coral reefs of the ... > read more
Tide pool — Tide pools (also tidal pools or rock pools) are rocky pools by the ocean that are filled with seawater. Tide pools can either be small and shallow or ... > read more
Zebra mussel — The Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) is a bivalve mussel native to freshwater lakes of southeast Russia. Zebra mussels are currently causing ... > read more
Recommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools:
more 