Trichoplax adhaerens   Schulze, 1883


Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Trichoplax adhaerens  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Not assigned | Not assigned | Trichoplacidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Benthic.  Tropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Circumglobal.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm

Short description Morphology

Flat (up to 0.5mm in its longest dimension), multicellular, amorphous, mobile flagellated animal lacking body cavity, digestive and nervous systems, composed of 2 layers of epithelial cells. Associated glandular cells apparently secrete digestive enzymes beneath the animal as it sits atop the algae and protozoans on which it apparently feeds; digestion seems to be entirely extracellular , as there is no mouth and no sign of phagocytosis. The much thinner, upper layer of the animal bears flagellated cells, but no gland cells. In a sense, the upper layer is ectodermal, while the lower layer, because of its involvement in digesting food and absorbing nutrients, is endodermal. Between the upper and lower cell layers is a fluid-filled space containing a dense network of fibrous cells that may be contractile (Ref. 53).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Commonly found in warm marine environments (Ref. 57) and in marine aquaria (Ref. 59), on hard bottom substrates in the benthic regions (Ref. 53). A scavenger which feeds on dead animals with its ventral surface, which produces digestive enzymes (Ref. 53), and also feeds on Cryptomonas (Ref. 57 and 60) and algae (Ref. 59); often, individuals contract part of the ventral surface into a sac where digestion may take place more efficiently (Ref. 60).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Reproduces asexually, binary fission, budding (Ref. 60), fragmentation (Ref. 53). Older cultures at high density begin to produce small motile presumptive sperm cells, and as individual animals disintegrate, they spew out ova (Refs. 59, 61).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Collins, A.G. 2000. (Ref. 60)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless

Human uses


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Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.