#cycliophora

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

As the newest described phylum (described in 1995), Cycliophora so far only contains the genus Symbion. But these animals are so unique that they certainly deserved their own phylum. They have so far been only found living attached to the mouths of cold-water lobsters. They have a commensal relationship with lobsters, feeding on microscopic particles from the lobsters’ meals.

Symbions have sac-like bodies, and three distinctly different forms in different parts of their two-stage life-cycle. The asexual feeding stage is the largest, attaching itself to a host via its adhesive disk. The asexual individual will produce males or females depending on the season. Males have two reproductive organs and no digestive system. Females are the same size, but have a digestive system which eventually collapses and reconstitutes itself as a larvae. You can read more about their fascinating reproduction on the wikipedia article, because it’s just… a lot.

Propaganda under the cut:

Cycliophora. This phylum is made of tiny commensal animals found attached to the mouthparts of lobsters.

Gastrotrich. This phylum is made up of microscopic aquatic animals that mostly live in waterbeds and feed on detritus

Annelida: Segmented Worms. This group includes earthworms, leeches, and many classes under the umbrella of "polychaete". This diverse phylum encompasses deposit feeders (eating dirt), detritivores, scavengers, deadly ambush predators, filter feeders, parasites, herbivores, and more. They are broadly defined by their repeating body segments and parapodia, which are nubby appendages used for both movement and breathing. Some have curved jaws for catching prey or scraping detritus off of rocks, while others have wide, elaborate feather-like fans for filter feeding. While able to crawl freely, a majority of marine Annelids spend most of their time in self-built tubes or burrows. Among their many important functions, they play a key role in mixing soil/sediment, breaking down decaying organic matter, and providing a key food source to countless other animals.

*drops a Symbion pandora into your bag*

(REUPLOAD BECAUSE I PUT THE (WRONG) ORIGINAL VERSION I MADE OF THE CYCLIOPHORA PICTURE AND COULDN’T FIGURE OUT HOW TO FIX IT)

A collection of drawings I did for InverteFest (an invertebrate-celebrating event on Twitter that went from April 28 to May 2). I decided to focus on the smaller phyla.

Explanations for some of them:

Ctenophora: Wikipedia has a picture of a Beroe ctenophore swimming with an open mouth, and it reminded me of a whale.

Cycliophora: Their reproductive cycle is surprisingly complicated and looking at a diagram confused me, so I decided to make a joke about that.

Gastrotricha: Referring to their eutely (how every adult member of the same gastrotrich species has the exact same number of cells in its body).

[Image Description: A collection of six digital drawings depicting animals from small phyla.

Picture 1: A Lingula anatina brachiopod.

Picture 2: A Sagitta chaetognath chasing a copepod. The copepod is slightly anthropomorphized, being drawn with a pupil in its eye which is looking back at the chaetognath with fear.

Picture 3: A beroid ctenophore with a gaping mouth. It has a thought bubble with a picture of a baleen whale’s jaw inside it.

Picture 4: A sexless Symbion pandora clinging to a lobster’s mouthparts. It is using the male individual stuck to it as a hand, holding a book titled Pandora, Prometheus: Cycliophoran Reproduction For Dummies. It has a thought bubble with the words “The other phyla will surely understand now!”

Picture 5: An entoproct. The drawing only shows the upper “cup” part of its body.

Picture 6: A blue gastrotrich on a purple background. Text reads: “Gastrotricha: A eutelic phylum. Very mathematically precise!”

this juggernaut of a jugulus is perhaps the most jug shaped a juggler can get 🍺🍺🍺🍺 it is a most jiggliest jiggling giggler with a profound sense of jug humour that matches that of biles and juff

because of its jarn jiggly nature it can only take residence in the mouth of lobsters and the like, as they are the only organisms that can handle such jubbling jobriety

jlorpiness jating: jajajajajjaa

image from GBIF (I'm not sure who took it) (CC BY 4.0)

The hitchhiker’s guide to the lobster’s face

A.k.a. Cycliophorans and their ridiculously complex life cycle. One more set of illustrations for @eartharchives, this time written by @pagurus.

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