Anthozoa

Giant green anemone, Southern California

A stony coral in its natural habitat

Anthozoa are a class in the phylum Cnidaria. It includes the sea anemones and the corals. The class does not have a medusa larval stage in its development, unlike the rest of the phylum. Like all Cnidaria, their food-catching and defence make use of nematocysts, which are extremely effective stinging cells. These are some of the groups in the class:

• Stony corals
• Sea anemones
• Sea pens
• Soft coral
• Sea whips and fans
• Various extinct orders of corals