Geographic Range

Diversity

Phylum Ctenophora, commonly known as comb jellies, includes 7 orders, with over 200 currently known species of biradially symmetrical, acoelomate organisms that resemble cnidarians. Ctenophore species are largely planktonic, exclusively marine animals, found throughout the world’s oceans, and comprise a significant portion of the planktonic biomass in their range. Comb jellies have a wide variety of body shapes, from small, roughly spherical species of less than a centimeter in diameter, to flattened, ribbon-shaped forms that reach lengths of up to two meters. (Appeltans, et al., 2012; Brusca and Brusca, 2003; Zhang, 2011)