Invertebrate Animal Vocabulary

Question 1

An animal that does not have a backbone.

Answer 1

Invertebrate

Question 2

An organism that eats other organisms or organic matter.

Answer 2

Consumer

Question 3

A mass of nerve cells.

Answer 3

Ganglion

Question 4

The digestive tract.

Answer 4

Gut

Question 5

A body cavity that contains the internal organs.

Answer 5

Coelom

Question 6

The property of being divisible into symmetrical halves on either side of a unique plane.

Answer 6

Bilateral Symmetry

Question 7

An animal of a large group, distinguished by the possession of a backbone or spinal column, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes.

Answer 7

Vertebrates

Question 8

A circulatory system in which the circulatory fluid is not contained entirely within vessels.

Answer 8

Open circulatory system

Question 9

A circulatory system in which the heart circulates blood through a network of blood vessels that form a closed loop.

Answer 9

Closed circulatory system

Question 10

Symmetry around a central axis, as in a starfish or a tulip flower.

Answer 10

Radial Symmetry

Question 11

Lack of equality or equivalence between parts or aspects of something; lack of symmetry.

Answer 11

Asymmetry

Question 12

A primitive sedentary aquatic invertebrate with a soft porous body that is typically supported by a framework of fibers or calcareous or glassy spicules. Sponges draw in a current of water to extract nutrients and oxygen.

Answer 12

Sponges

Question 13

An aquatic invertebrate animal of the phylum Cnidarian, which comprises the coelenterates.

Answer 13

Cnidarians

Question 14

A worm of a phylum which includes the Parisians together with the parasitic flukes and tapeworms. They are distinguished by having a simple flattened body which lacks blood vessels, and a digestive tract which, if present, has a single opening.

Answer 14

Flatworms

Question 15

A nematode, especially a parasitic one found in the intestines of mammals.

Answer 15

Roundworms

Question 16

An invertebrate of a large phylum which includes snails, slugs, mussels, and octopuses. They have a soft unsegmented body and live in aquatic or damp habitats, and most kinds have an external calcareous shell.

Answer 16

Mollusks

Question 17

A large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including rag worms, earthworms, and leeches.

Answer 17

Annelid worms

Question 18

A rigid external covering for the body in some invertebrate animals, especially arthropods, providing both support and protection.

Answer 18

Exoskeleton

Question 19

An eye consisting of an array of numerous small visual units, as found in insects and crustaceans.

Answer 19

Compound eye

Question 20

A pair of long, thin sensory appendages on the heads of insects, crustaceans, and some other arthropods.

Answer 20

Antenna

Question 21

The process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages.

Answer 21

Metamorphosis

Question 22

An internal skeleton, such as the bony or cartilaginous skeleton of vertebrates.

Answer 22

Endoskeleton

Question 23

A network of water vessels in the body, the tube feet being operated by hydraulic pressure within the vessels.

Answer 23

Water vascular system