Course about marine organisms classification.

1. MARINE BIOLOGY
&
ECOLOGY
COURSE
AQUATIC FLORA AND FAUNA CLASSIFICATION
BY GREEN GUARDIANS
DRAFTED BY GUILLAUME LEBOUT

2. AQUATIC FLORA
AND FAUNA
CLASSIFICATION
Filiation tree of aquatic life:
• A classification system that
partially reproduces the
phylogenetic tree, a
schematic tree that shows
the kinship relationships
between entities believed
to have a common ancestor.
• Each of the nodes of the
tree represents the
common ancestor of his
descendants.

3. FLORA
Plantae
• ALGAE (40,000 kinds)
• Algae are living beings capable of photosynthesis, the life cycle of
which generally takes place in an aquatic environment.
• They constitute a very important part of biodiversity, and one of the
bases of the trophic networks of freshwater, brackish and marine
aquatic environments.
• Plants that have no stem, leaf, flower or root, which differentiates
them from plants.
Acetabularia sp. Padina sp. Asparagopsis sp. (Red sea plume)
Valonia sp. (pearl alga)

4. • FLOWERING PLANTS (phanerogams) / SEAGRASS
• A phanerogamous plant is a plant with apparent reproductive
organs in the cone or in the flower.
• The dissemination is ensured by seeds.
• Plants that have stem, leaf, flower or root.
FLORA
Plantae
Halophila sp. Enhalus Acoroides Posidonia sp. Cymodocea sp.

5. FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate
• SPONGES (5000 species)
• The body of sponges is a non-living mass between two layers of cells or cell leaflet(Diploblastic), the
ectoderm which lies on the outside and the endoderm which lies on the inside. They have no nervous system.
• The terms sponge and spongia both come from the Latin spongia, meaning sponge. Porifera comes from
the Latin porus, meaning small hole, or pore and the verb ferre which means to carry.
• The geographic distribution of sponges is very important, as they have colonized marine waters, fresh and
brackish, from shallow depths to more than 5,000 m deep, in all climates. T
• They have an important action in the filtration of water.
Haliclona sp. Nyphates sp. Xestospongia sp Ciocalypta sp.

6. • CNIDARIA
• The cnidarians, or branch of the Cnidaria, are relatively simple animal species, specific to the
aquatic environment (marine at 99%, 1% freshwater only).
• The name comes from the ancient Greek κνιδη "nettle", referring to the stinging cells
characteristic of these animals (cnidocytes or cnidoblasts).
• Cnidarians exist in two forms: fixed forms or polyps (coral, sea anemone, gorgon) and free
forms (jellyfish).
• There are over 10,000 recognized species.
• Principal groups of cnidaria: Anthozoa / scyphozoa / Cubomedusae / hydrozoa
Medusa family Anemona family Gorgonia family Coral family
FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate

7. • CTENOPHORA
• Ctenophores (Ctenophora, from the Greek ktenos, “comb” and phorein,
“porter”) or “Ctenaries” are marine organisms represented by nearly 150
species, widespread in all the oceans of the world.
• Their name derives from the comb structure of rows of locomotor cilia.
• Their superficial resemblance to jellyfish formerly led them to classify them
as coelenterates, a classification which has now fallen into disuse.
• They are easily identifiable by their eight rows of locomotor ciliated palettes
that glisten in the light.
Eurhamphaea sp. Beroe sp.
Cestum sp. Leucothea sp.
FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate

8. • PLATHELMINTHES (Flatworms)
• The group of plathelminthes (or Platyhelminthes, from the Greek
platus, "large" and helmins, "worm") or platodes or tapeworms
mainly group together worms which are elongated animals without a
distinct head and without appendages.
• A ventral side lined with many eyelashes allows them to glide over
any surface.
Pseudoceros sp. Thysanozoon sp. Prostheceraeus sp. Maiazoon sp.
FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate

9. • ANNELIDS
• The Phylum Annelids groups all ringed worms, whether aquatic (lugworm,
leech) or terrestrial (earthworm).
• They are the oldest multicellular animals.
• The classification is made according to the number and the arrangement of
the more or less long bristles which cover their body.
• They are composed of different groups: Polychaete / Clitellates /
Archiannelida
Lanice sp. Sabella sp.
Hermodice sp.
Spirobranchus sp.
FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate

10. FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate
• MOLLUSCS
• The phylum molluscs (Mollusca) takes its name from the Latin mollis, "soft".
• Molluscs are non-segmented animals (invertebrates), sometimes with altered bilateral symmetry.
Their body is usually consists of a head, visceral mass, and a foot. The visceral mass is covered in
whole or in part by a mantle, which secretes a calcareous shell.
• The phylum contains 130,000 species, some of which are very frequently
consumed by humans.
• Some molluscs can secrete pearls by covering irritants that enter their shells
with mother-of-pearl.
• The principal groups of molluscs are: Gastropod / Cephalopod / Lamellibranch
Conus sp.
Sepia sp. Tridacna sp.
Nembrotha sp.

11. FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate
• BRYOZOAN
• The name originates from the Greek bruon, moss, and zôon, animal:
it is therefore a moss animal ...
• Bryozoa form colonies of individuals, each housed in a cell with a
crown of tentacles protruding; they were once taken for plants.
• The colonial skeleton is formed by the affixing of these multiple
chitinous chambers (flexible structure) or limestones (rigid structure)
which distribute and separate the zoids.
Beania sp. Flustra sp. Reteporella sp. Chorizopora sp.

12. FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate
• ARTHROPODS
• Arthropods (Arthropoda) - from the Greek arthron "joint" and podos "foot", also called
"articulated" - form a phylum of invertebrate animals.
• The body of arthropods is made up of articulated segments (or metamers), covered
with a rigid cuticle, which constitutes their external skeleton, in most cases made up of
chitin.
• The arthropod phylum is by far the one with the most species and the most individuals
in the entire animal kingdom (80% of known species). There are more than one and a half
million current species of arthropods.
Neopetrolisthes sp. Dardanus sp. Odontodactylus sp. Tachypleus sp.

13. • ECHINODERMS
• Echinoderms, whose name means thorny skin in Greek, are a very
ancient group of marine animals, the earliest fossil records of which
date back to the Cambrian.
• It has 7,000 species living today, the best known representatives of
which are sea urchins, starfish,sea cucumber and crinoide.
Oxycomanthus sp.
FAUNA
Animalia
Invertebrate
Stichopus sp. Linckia sp. Heterocentrotus sp.

14. • UROCHORDATES or TUNICATES
• The tunicates (Tunicata) or urochordates (Urochordata), are a sub-phylum of the
Chordates.
• They number around 1,500 species.
• The Tunicates or are contrary to appearances very evolved organisms. They have, at
least in the larval state, a chord which announces the skeletal axis of future vertebrates.
• Solitary, they have two siphons, an inhalant (or buccal) and an exhalant (or cloacal).
• Colonial, they present a fusion of exhaling siphons and each merged group evokes a
flower.
FAUNA
Animalia
Chordata
Vertebrate
Diazona sp. Clavelina sp. Botrylloides sp.
Polycarpa sp.

15. • REPTILIA
• Marine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily
adapted for an aquatic or semiaquatic life in a marine environment.
• Currently, of the approximately 12,000 extant reptile species and
subspecies, only about 100 are classed as marine reptiles: extant
marine reptiles include marine iguanas, sea snakes, sea turtles and
saltwater crocodiles.
FAUNA
Animalia
Chordata
Vertebrate
Amblyrhynchus sp. Crocodilus sp. Laticauda sp. Chelonia sp.

16. • CARTILAGINOUS FISH (Chondrichthyes)
• The class of chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish includes
cartilaginous fish quite different morphologically from each other, such
as rays and sharks, very varied in size such as the elven sagre which
measures 18 centimeters (adult) and the whale shark which it reaches
18 meters long.
• We find in this class the different species of sharks, rays and
chimaeras.
FAUNA
Animalia
Chordata
Vertebrate
Rhincodon sp. Carcharhinus sp.
Taeniura sp.
Mobula sp.

17. FAUNA
Animalia
Chordata
Vertebrate
• BONY FISH (Osteichthyes)
• The bony fish or Osteichthyes is a diverse superclass of vertebrates
that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue.
• The group is composed of 45 orders, and over 435 families and
28,000 species.
• The group Osteichthyes is divided into the ray-finned fish
(Actinopterygii) and lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii).
Hippocampus sp. Pterois sp. Sphyraena sp. Gymnothorax sp.

18. FAUNA
Animalia
Chordata
Vertebrate
Mammal
• TETRAPODS
• A tetrapod (Broili, 1913) is an animal of the vertebrate sub-phylum whose
skeleton has two pairs of limbs and whose respiration is normally pulmonary.
• The first tetrapods were exclusively aquatic animals, still poorly differentiated
from fish.
• Their proto-legs seem to have been used for movement in the tangled
vegetation of the submerged banks, and their lungs seem to have been adapted
to water poor in oxygen.
Dugong sp. Tursiops sp.
Delphinapterus sp. Megaptera sp.

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