Acelomate Bilateral Animals

Body Cavities & Germ Layers

# body cavities differ among taxa Recall blastula: fluid-filled cell ball w/o opening
Gastrula: evaginates & diploblastic (2 germ layers) ectoderm endoderm Embryo w/ 2 cavities blastopore - gut blastocoel - fluid-filled or fills w/ mesoderm tissue (3rd germ layer)

Blastopore

Body Cavities & Germ Layers cont.

Taxa w/ all 3 germ layers: triploblastic

Cell divisions by radial cleavage or spiral cleavage deuterostome protostome
Protostome

mouth

anus

(anus)

(mouth)

Body Cavities & Germ Layers cont. Mesoderm forms by endoderm into blastocoel gives rise to muscle, connective tissue, bone, circulatory, Coelom fluid-filled cavity (blastocoel) completely lined w/ mesoderm Triploblastic: 3 body plans can result: Acoelomate Psuedocoelomate Eucoelomate (aka coelomate)

Eucoelomate Plan

Phylum Platyhelminthes
Found in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. Four Classes
Turbellaria free-living Monogenea parasitic Trematoda parasitic Cestoda parasitic

Bilateral symmetry and a dorsoventrally flattened body

Phylum Platyhelminthes
Three germ layers (triploblastic) present. They have a solid body without a coelom; they are acelomate and bilateral Cellular or syncytial tegument with rhabdites Incomplete gut, if present Muscular system of layers of circular, longitudinal, sometimes oblique fibers

Phylum Platyhelminthes
Nervous system with pair of anterior ganglia and longitudinal nerve cords. Simple sense organs (statocysts and ocelli) are present. Asexual reproduction by fragmentation; most are monoecious for sexual reproduction; some with complicated life cycles.

Phylum Platyhelminthes
Excretory system of flame cells (protonephridia). Respiratory, circulatory and skeletal system lacking.

Tegument and Muscles

Most turbellarians have a cellular, ciliated epidermis on a basement membrane. Rod-shaped rhabdites swell and form a protective mucous sheath. Most turbellarians have dual-gland adhesive organs
1) Viscid gland cells fasten microvilli of anchor cells to the substrate. 2) Secretions of releasing gland cells provide a quick chemical detachment.

All parasitic classes have a syncytial tegument; syncytial means nuclei are not separated by cell membranes. A few turbellarians have a syncytial in sunk epidermis with cells located beneath the basement membrane.

Figure 8_05

Tegument and Muscles

All parasitic classes have a syncytial tegument; syncytial means nuclei are not separated by cell membranes. The non-turbellarians lack cilia and have a tegument. Parenchyma cells fill spaces in body; they are noncontractile portions of muscle cells. Under the basement membrane, muscle fibers run circularly, longitudinally and diagonally

Figure 8_06

Nutrition and Digestion

Planarians have a mouth, pharynx and an intestine In planarians, the pharynx can extend through the mouth that is mid-ventrally located. The intestine may be simple or branched. Proteolytic enzymes from the intestine are secreted for extracellular digestion. Phagocytic cells in the gastrodermis complete digestion at intracellular level. Undigested food is egested back out the pharynx. Cestodes (tapeworms) have no digestive system; they rely on the hosts digestive tract and they absorb digested molecules.

Figure 14.9

Excretion and Osmoregulation

Except in some turbellarians, flatworms have protonephridia with flame cells. Beating flagella drive fluids down collecting ducts, forming a negative pressure that draws fluids through a network or weir. The wall of the duct beyond the flame cell bears folds or microvilli to resorb certain ions and molecules. Collecting ducts empty to the outside by pores. Metabolic wastes are removed largely by diffusion through the body wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb_3KIB 4CmE

Nervous System and Sense Organs

Flatworms are cephalized. The subepidermal nerve plexus resembles the nerve net of cnidarians. One to five pairs of longitudinal nerve cords lie under the muscle layer. Freshwater planarians have one ventral pair of nerve cords forming a ladder-type pattern; the brain is a bilobed ganglion anterior to the ventral nerve cords. Except in simpler turbellarians, nerves are now sensory, motor and association-types.

Nervous System and Sense Organs

Tactile and chemoreceptive cells are abundant, especially in the ear-shaped auricles. Some have statocysts for equilibrium and rheoreceptors for sensing direction of water currents. Ocelli are light-sensitive eyespots in turbellarians, monogeneans and larval trematodes.

Reproduction
Fission 1) Many turbellarians constrict behind the pharynx and separate into two animals. 2) Each half regenerates the missing parts; this provides for rapid population growth. 3) Some do not separate immediately, creating chains of zooids. For flukes asexual reproduction occurs in intermediate hosts. Most flatworms are monoecious but cross-fertilize. Endolecithal eggs are typical and ancestral. In endolecithal eggs, yolk for the developing embryo is contained within the cell. Some turbellarians and all other groups have female gametes with little yolk; it is contributed by separate organs, yolk glands. Yolk cells surround the zygote in ectolecithal eggs. Development may be direct or indirect. Embryo and larval stages are present in some flatworms.

Class Tubellaria
Turbellarians are mostly free-living and range from 5 mm to 50 cm long. The mouth is located on the ventral side and leads to a gut. This class is distinguished by gut form and pharynx type (presence, absence; branched, unbranched; Simple,folded or bulbous pharynx) Most turbellarians with endolecithal eggs have no guts or have simple (unbranched) guts. Polyclades have a folded pharynx, branched gut, and large size.

Class Tubellaria
Very small planaria swim by cilia. Adults move by cilia and gliding over a slime track secreted by marginal adhesive glands. Rhythmical muscular waves pass backward from the head. Turbellarians have a simple life style with no larva. In some freshwater turbellarians, egg capsules are attached by little stalks to plants or stones. Embryos emerge as juveniles that resemble miniature adults.

Class Trematoda
All trematodes are parasitic flukes. Most adults are endoparasites of vertebrates. They resemble ectolecithal turbellaria but the tegument lacks cilia in adults. Adaptations for parasitism include:
penetration glands, glands to produce cyst material, hooks and suckers for adhesion, and increased reproductive capacity.

The mouth of flukes opens near the anterior end. Some trematodes retain ancestral turbellarian characteristics of a well developed gut tube (but with mouth at the anterior or cephalic end) and reproductive, excretory and nervous systems. Sense organs are poorly developed.

Subclass Digenea (medically and economically important

Nearly all have an indirect life cycle with the first (intermediate) host being a mollusc. The definitive or final host where sexual reproduction occurs is a vertebrate. A second or third intermediate host may be required in the life cycle. They parasitize a wide range of hosts and most parts of most systems in hosts.

General Digenean Life Cycle

The egg passes from the definitive host in excreta and must reach water. The egg then hatches into a free-swimming ciliated larva, the miracidium. The miracidium penetrates the tissues of a snail and transforms into a sporocyst. The sporocyst reproduces asexually into more sporocysts or many rediae. Rediae reproduce asexually into more rediae or into cercariae with tails. Cercariae emerge from the snail and penetrate a second intermediate host or encyst on objects to become metacercariae, or juvenile flukes. The adult grows from a metacercaria when it is eaten by the definitive host.

Clonorchis Life Cycle

This is the most important human liver fluke; it is common in China, Japan and Southeast Asia. It also infects cats, dogs and pigs.
Adults live in bile passageways of humans and other fish-eating mammals. Eggs containing a complete miracidium are shed into water with feces. The eggs hatch only when ingested by snails of specific genera. The miracidium enters snail tissue and transforms into a sporocyst. A sporocyst produces one generation of rediae, which begin differentiation.

Clonorchis Life Cycle

Rediae pass into the snail liver and develop into free-swimming cercariae. Cercariae escape into water and swim until they contact suitable host. Cercariae bore into fish muscles or under scales, and encyst as metacercariae. A mammal eating raw fish dissolves the cyst and young flukes migrate up the bile duct. A heavy infection can destroy the liver and result in death.

Figure 14.10

Clonorchis sinenesis

Schistosoma: Blood Flukes

Over 200 million people have schistosomiasis, infection with blood flukes. It is common in Africa, South America, West Indies, and the Middle and Far East. Eggs are discharged in human feces or urine. In water, eggs hatch as ciliated miracidia; they must contact a particular species of snail to survive. Three species account for most human schistosomiasis: S. mansoni in venules of large intestine, S. japonicum in venules of small intestine, and S. haemotobium in venules of urinary bladder.

Schistosoma: Blood Flukes

Blood flukes are different from most other flukes in that sexes are separate Eggs that remain internal become centers of inflammation Schistosome dermatitis (swimmers itch) occurs when cercariae penetrate an unsuitable host such as a human.

Figure 14.15

Gynecophoric canal

severe inflammation

Blood Fluke (Schistosoma) of Humans Leading cause death in Egyptian men 20-44 years old Damage caused by unreleased eggs (50% never released) Control: clean water, sewage control, snail reduction Exacerbating factors: poverty & ignorance

Class Monogenea
Monogeneans are external parasites of fish, especially gills, but a few are found in bladders of frogs and turtles. Monogeneans clamp onto the surface of a fish with a hooked opisthaptor Monogeneans have a direct life cycle in a single host. Some are serious economic problems in fish farming.

Class Cestoda
Tapeworms have a unique flattened and segmented shape compared to other flatworms. The scolex is a holdfast head portion with suckers and hooks. Each trailing segment is a proglottid containing a set of reproductive organs Muscles, excretory and nervous systems are similar to other flatworms, they lack a digestive system. They lack sensory organs except for modified cilia. As with Monogenea and Trematoda, the tegument is syncytial and has no cilia.

Class Cestoda
The entire surface of cestodes is covered with projections similar to microvilli seen in the vertebrate small intestine; these microtriches increase the surface area for food absorption). Nearly all are monoecious. Nearly all cestodes require two hosts; the adult is parasitic in the digestive tract of the vertebrate. The main body is a chain of proglottids is called a strobila

Figure 14.19

Figure 14.22

Class Cestoda
Proglottids originate in the germinative zone just behind the scolex. New proglottids differentiate, moves posteriorly and the gonads mature. A proglottid is usually fertilized by another proglottid in the same or different strobila. Shelled embryos form in the uterus; they are either expelled or the whole proglottid is shed. Proglottid formation is not true segmentation; replication of sex organs is not equivalent to metamerism in annelids, etc. Over 4000 species of tapeworms are known, infecting almost all vertebrates. Most tapeworms do little harm to the host.

Taenia saginata: Beef Tapeworm

This tapeworm lives as an adult in the alimentary canal of humans; the juvenile form is found in intermuscular tissue of cattle. Mature adults can reach over 7 meters in length. Gravid proglottids (with shelled, infective larvae) pass in feces. Cattle swallow shelled larvae that hatch and burrow into blood and lymph vessels. When they reach voluntary muscle, they encyst to become bladder worms (cysticerci). When the infected meat is eaten, the cyst wall dissolves and the scolex evaginates to attach to intestinal mucosa. New proglottids develop in 2-3 weeks Infected persons expel numerous proglottids daily. Infection can be avoided by eating only thoroughly cooked beef.

Taenia solium: Pork Tapeworm

This tapeworm uses humans as definitive hosts and pigs as intermediate hosts. Humans can be intermediate hosts by ingesting shelled larvae from contaminated food, or those with adult worms, by regurgitating segments into the stomach. If eggs or proglottids are ingested, the embryos migrate to organs and form cysticerci. Cysticercci commonly encyst in the brain.

Phylum Mesozoa
Members are minute ciliated animals 0.5 to 7 mm in length. These are highly specialized parasites or symbionts in marine invertebrates; some in cephalopod kidneys. Mesozoans are made of two layers that are not homologous to germ layers of metazoans. Development does not include gastrulation. Molecular studies indicate similar genetic and biochemical markers in mesozoans and triploblastic animals.

Figure 14.25

Phylum Nemertea (Rhynchocoela)

Nemerteans are often called ribbon worms; an alternative phylum name is Rhynchocoela. They have a long muscular tube, the proboscis. There are over 1000 species; most are less than 20 cm long though some are several meters long. Their general body plan is similar to that of turbellarians. The epidermis is ciliated and has many gland cells. The excretory system has flame cells; several have rhabdites.

Form and Function

Slender and fragile, longer ones are difficult to study in the laboratory. Amphiporus is a common example; it is 2 to 10 cm long . The body wall is ciliated columnar cells and layers of circular and longitudinal muscles. Movement is by both musculature and cilia. Some glide on the substrate. The adult has an anus, producing a complete digestive system that is more efficient. Nemerteans are carnivorous and eat dead or living prey.

Figure 14.27

Amphiporus

Form and Function

The proboscis is an eversible organ protruded from a rhynchocoel for defense and catching prey; (this is not connected to the digestive tract) The proboscis is everted by fluid pressure and retracted by muscles; it has a sharp-pointed stylet at the tip. The slime-covered proboscis wraps around prey and the stylet pierces and holds prey until it is thrust into the mouth.

Form and Function

A rhynochocoel is a cavity completely lined with mesoderm and as such is a true coelom. In nemerteans the rhynochocoel lies above the gut, not around it. There is a true circulatory system in which blood is moved by muscular walls of blood vessels. Protonephridia are so closely associated with circulatory system that they are truly excretory rather than simply osmoregulatory in function as in flatworms. The nervous system consists of paired ganglia, longitudinal nerves, and transverse nerves. Most nermertans are dioecious, some reproduce by fragmentation and regeneration.