Coelenterata

1 9.9

An old group name for water animals like jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones that scientists no longer use

noun
/siːˌlɛnˈtɛrətə/

Archaic

: Coelenterata

Briefly, all species of precious coral in the Western Pacific belong to one of three orders within the class Anthozoa, phylum Coelenterata.

Examples

The scientific classification of Coelenterata includes various marine organisms such as jellyfish and corals.
There's porifera, coelenterata, hydrozoa, scyphozoa Anthozoa, ctenophora, bryozoas three

Finding Nemo (2003)
Many experts in marine biology study the characteristics of Coelenterata and their role in ocean ecosystems.
In the past, scientists classified creatures like anemones and hydras under the group known as Coelenterata.

Surface Forms

Coelenterata singular

Coelenteratae plural

Morphology

Coelenterata = coelenteron (opaque) = coelenteron + ata

The term is a learned scientific formation from Greek combining forms and a Latin plural ending; average learners cannot transparently derive its taxonomic meaning from the components.

Etymology

Coelenterata comes from Greek parts koilos 'hollow' and enteron 'intestine', so it means 'hollow gut'. A helpful image is that jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones have one large central body cavity instead of a true gut, which is why older books used that name even though scientists now divide them into different groups.