Taxa

Cnidaria

Phylum

Citation Formats

General Reference

Nature Atlas. "Cnidaria." Accessed September 8, 2026. https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/phylum-cnidaria.

APA Style

Nature Atlas. (n.d.). Cnidaria. Retrieved September 8, 2026, from https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/phylum-cnidaria

BibTeX

@misc{natureatlas-cnidaria,
  author = {Nature Atlas},
  title = {Cnidaria},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://nature.interactiveatlas.org/taxa/phylum-cnidaria},
  note = {Accessed September 8, 2026}
}

Aquatic, mostly marine invertebrates defined by cnidocytes, stinging cells used to capture prey and for defense, arranged around a body with radial symmetry and a single body opening. Cnidaria includes jellyfish, sea anemones, corals and hydroids, and reef-building corals in this phylum construct the physical structure of every coral reef on Earth.

Facts

Disputed

Member Species/Taxa Count

11,000 1

Approximate described-species (or, for a genus, described-taxon) count; continually revised as species are newly described, reclassified or synonymized.

Taxonomic Rank

Phylum / Division 1

Scientific Name

Cnidaria 1

Cross-Tradition Connections