Page 62 - BBC Focus - August 2017
P. 62
EARTH
CORALLIMORPH
These invertebrates belong to the same group as anemones and
corals. They have tentacles and stinging cells, called nematocysts, for
snagging small prey. Unlike more familiar reef-building corals,
corallimorphs don’t secrete a calcium carbonate skeleton and they
don’t form colonies. Countless other spineless creatures were brought
up in the expedition’s sampling nets, and preserved specimens will be
sent around the globe for experts to fully identify. But it’s still too
soon to say how many species are new to science. “In terms of
invertebrates, that’s a fair way down the track,” explains Bray.
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