Article
Article
Siphonophora
Article By:
Pugh, Philip R. School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom.
Last reviewed:June 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.625800
An order of the class Hydrozoa (phylum Cnidaria). Members of the Siphonophora (siphonophores) are colonial animals of great complexity. They are characterized by the morphologically diverse nature of their component individuals (zooids), in which each is specialized to perform a particular function and alone would not be able to survive. The integrity of the whole arrangement is such that the animals often are referred to as superorganisms, with characteristics more like an individual than a colony. Siphonophores are exclusively marine animals and mainly oceanic, although some can tolerate reduced salinities. There are about 175 described species. Most are bioluminescent and some are fluorescent. See also: Bioluminescence; Cnidaria; Fluorescence; Hydrozoa
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