Trichoplax is a genus in the phylum Placozoa. Its species Trichoplax adhaerens is one of four known Placozoa species, alongside Hoilungia hongkongensis, Polyplacotoma mediterranea and Cladtertia collaboinventa; Placozoa is a basal group of multicellular animals, possibly related to Cnidaria. Trichoplax organisms are very flat, commonly less than 4 millimeters across, and lack any organs or internal structures. They have two cellular layers, a ciliated upper layer of flattened cover cells and a lower layer of cylinder cells bearing locomotory cilia and cilia-free gland cells, with a liquid-filled cavity called the fiber syncytium, held open by star-shaped fibers, between the two layers.
Facts
Classification
System (Realm) Living or Extinct Scientific Name Connections
Child Taxon Of
In Biome
Source Wikipedia: Trichoplax
In Ecosystem
Source Wikipedia: Trichoplax
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Trichoplax
WikipediaInfobox: taxon
Trichoplax
Article text
Trichoplax adhaerens feeds on small algae, particularly on green algae (Chlorophyta) of the genus Chlorella, cryptomonads (Cryptophyta) of the genera Cryptomonas and Rhodomonas, and blue-green bacteria (Cyanobacteria) such as Phormidium inundatum, but also on detritus from other organisms.
In Biome: Mangrove Forest, Distribution and habitat
Field specimens tend to be found in the coastal tidal zones of tropical and subtropical seas, on such substrates as the trunks and roots of mangroves, shells of molluscs, fragments of stony corals or simply on pieces of rock.
In Ecosystem: Great Barrier Reef, Distribution and habitat
Trichoplax has been collected, among other places, in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean, off Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, Japan, Vietnam, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea, and on the Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia.
View the Source 2. GBIF Species API
3. Wikidata (taxon extant/extinct status)
Wikimedia Foundation / Wikidata contributorsQ9064643, descriptionView the Source Wikidata: Trichoplax
- Wikidata Q9064643, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Child Taxon Of: Placozoa, Wikidata parent-taxon (P171) chain
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