Rhombozoans: Rhombozoa - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, No Common Name (dicyemodeca Deca): Species Account - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET, RHOMBOZOANS AND PEOPLE, CONSERVATION STATUS
GEOGRAPHIC RANGE
Rhombozoans live in the northern, eastern, and western parts of the Pacific Ocean; in the waters around New Zealand and Australia; in the Mediterranean Sea; in the northern, eastern, and western parts of the Atlantic Ocean; in the Gulf of Mexico; and in the Antarctic Ocean.
HABITAT
In the wormlike form, rhombozoans live only in the kidneys of octopuses, cuttlefish, and sometimes squid.
DIET
Rhombozoans absorb nutrients from the urine of their hosts.
RHOMBOZOANS AND PEOPLE
Rhombozoans have no known importance to people.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Rhombozoans are not threatened or endangered.
Additional Topics
Rhombozoans (RAHM-boh-ZOH-uhns) are parasites (PAIR-uh-sites) that live in the kidneys of bottom-dwelling octopuses, cuttlefish, and sometimes squid. Parasites are animals or plants that live on or in another animal or plant, called a host, without helping it and usually harming it. The body of rhombozoans is made up of only eight to forty cells in a simple arrangement. They have the fewest cells …
In both the wormlike phase and as specialized embryos, rhombozoans swim by movement of the hairlike fibers on their bodies. Scientists do not know how the specialized embryos infect a new host and develop into wormlike rhombozoans. Wormlike embryos develop asexually from a cell of a parent and grow into adults. Asexual (ay-SEK-shuh-wuhl) reproduction is that which takes place without the uniting o…
Physical characteristics: The body length of an adult Dicyemodeca deca (abbreviated as D. deca) does not exceed one–thirty-second of an inch (1 millimeter). There are twenty-three or twenty-four outer cells. The cap is disk shaped. The specialized embryos consist of thirty-five cells and are approximately 0.001 inch (33 micrometers) long. Geographic range: D. deca lives in the northeastern …
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