The 27 Most Incredible Marine Invertebrate Animals

The Marine invertebrate animals Are characterized by having no vertebral column, but may have an external bone skeleton, called exoskeleton.

There are different types of invertebrates: poriferous, cnidarians, annelids, arthropods, mollusks and echinoderms. These are the types of marine invertebrates:

  • Porifers and cnidarians are the simplest organisms. They live in aquatic environments and have radial symmetry (radial form) or lack form.
  • Marine annelids or polychaetes are hairy worms and their body is formed by rings.
  • The aquatic or crustacean arthropods have a segmented body and a very hard exoskeleton. Molluscs are both terrestrial and marine. They are characterized by having a muscular body, a calcareous shell and a radula, which is the organ they use to feed themselves.
  • The echinoderms are all complex marine animals, whose bodies are covered with a shell formed by calcareous plaques and thorns, such as starfish.

Top 27 marine invertebrate animals

1- Tomato anemone

The 27 Most Incredible Marine Invertebrate Animals

If you have a fish tank at home, you must have a tomato anemone. Also called actinia, it is a species that looks like a fungus with tentacles. Actinias can contract or extend their tentacles, allowing them to hunt small fish for food. Anemones reproduce by division and can live in waters with different temperatures and lighting. Anemones are fixed on the rocks.

2- Starfish

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The protagonists of the selfies on the beach! Yes, these animals are the most popular and loved invertebrates by all. What many do not know is that stars die asphyxiated when they are taken out of the water, the moment we photograph them with them because they breathe air, not water. These animals usually have 5 or more arms. If you cut a starfish in half, it will regenerate and survive by turning into two.

3- Corals

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Corals are invertebrate colonial animals belonging to the cnidarian class. They feed on plankton and small fish that they catch with their tentacles. They require sunlight to reproduce and live in shallow waters.

Coral reefs are popular places among those who practice scuba diving, since small fish are scattered among them. The Great Barrier Reef, on the Australian coasts, is the largest reef in the world. The second largest coral reef is located in the Caribbean Sea.

4- Bogavante

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Lobster is a lobster-like crustacean, up to 70 centimeters in length. It has 5 pairs of legs, four of which are small. The last pair, much larger, serves to defend itself. They are highly valued as part of the gastronomy of many countries.

5 - Lobsters

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Palinurids or lobsters are another kind of crustacean highly prized in gastronomy. There are different types that differ by the size of their tweezers. For example, the Juan Fernandez lobster is far from the European spiny lobster.

This last one lives in the Mediterranean Sea and its fishing is the economic base of towns, like Menorca, where a typical dish based on lobster, called Caldereta de Langosta, has become famous. Delicious!

6- Hierous lobster

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Lobster or brown lobster is an endangered species that lives in the Atlantic Islands. This marine crustacean brown can measure up to 37 centimeters.

7- Jellyfish

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The jellyfish or sea tears are beautiful translucent marine animals that have a bell shape and gelatinous body. Some jellyfish are bioluminescent and glow in the dark. They use their tentacles to catch their prey and defend themselves against their attackers.

Some are toxic and their stings cause a burning sensation in the victims, but some peses are immune and therefore scythe jellyfish to defend against their attackers.

The most poisonous jellyfish in the world is the sea wasp, which inhabits Australian waters. Its venom can cause cardiac arrest to humans since it automatically enters the blood.

8- Sea sponges

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Sea sponges are interesting animals, which were considered plants until in 1765 it was discovered that their digestion was intracellular and that they filter the water, since they feed on the organisms in it.

These animals are considered to exist from the Precambrian period. The sponge has a cellular organization and lacks tissues, since its cells are totipotent, that is, they can adopt different functions, which allows them to be autonomous. Sponges are the only animals that lack the nervous system.

9- Sea cucumbers

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Sea cucumbers are vermiform invertebrates, meaning they look like worms. Although they distinguish their pulleys or holothurias. It has a mouth opening and an anal. His mouth is surrounded by tentacles. In some countries in Asia and Spain, dishes based on these animals are prepared, such as the trepang in China or the spain in Spain.

10- Sea apples

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Sea apples are a type of round sea cucumber. They can be up to 20 cm long, filter the water and others when faced with some danger can expel their internal organs to entertain the predators and escape. Then your organs regenerate.

Although this species is also a sea cucumber, it is not advisable to keep them in fishbowl since their toxins can poison the other inhabitants of them. Yellow sea cucumber also releases this type of toxins.

11- Hermit Crab

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The hermit crab or paguro is a crustacean that lives in conch shells to cover its abdomen and protect itself from danger. There are approximately 500 species in the world and some of them are terrestrial. This crab is the main ingredient of several dishes typical of Spain, especially the Balearic Islands.

12- Artemia salina

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Artemia salina is a cosmopolitan crustacean almost translucent, which can also inhabit fish tanks. Due to its nutritional properties, it is frequently used in aquariums (fish farming in aquariums). An interesting fact is that the eggs of this animal can be kept for up to 10 years in a metabolically inactive state and then, under more favorable climatic conditions, the egg can be reactivated.

13- Prawn

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The prawn or cleaner of the north is an omnivorous shrimp, meaning that it feeds on plants and animals. Their diet is based on plankton, dead tissues and parasites. This animal is a friend of the coral reefs and other larger sick fish, as they are responsible for cleaning impurities surfaces and also filter the water.

14- Sea lilies

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Sea lilies or feathered stars are echinoderms that look like a plant. It is considered that they inhabit the land from the Paleozoic and exist more than 600 species. They are water filters and feed on zooplankton. There are different colors and sizes.

15- Pans

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Sea pots have been on the ground for 300 million years. Their resistant exoskeleton has allowed them to survive predators. Under his shell hides a little animal very similar to the spider, only with one more leg.

An interesting fact about these animals is that their blood reacts to bacterial endotoxins. For this reason scientists have developed a test to determine possible infections based on their blood.

Because of the speed of the reaction, this test is used on astronauts and people exposed to hazardous materials that may be toxic to humans.

16- Swiss Vaquita

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The Swiss vaquita is a species of gastropod mollusc that inhabits the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It has no shell and is characterized by its peculiar color: it is white with freckles. It has between 6 and 9 main gills and secondary gills around the anus.

17- Sea Dragon

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The sea dragon is a hermaphrodite marine slug, which looks like a mythological animal. Belongs to the family Glaucidae And is considered a unique species. His body is a flat trunk with 6 branches, his teeth look like swords.

This cosmopolitan species can inhabit cold and warm waters. Scientists argue about the possibility that this animal can not swim, but is dragged by the current.

This animal can be poisonous, since it feeds on other poisonous animals and being immune to its venom, its bite can pass this poison to another species. Its color serves as camouflage.

18- Fiddler Crab

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The crab violinist or skipjack, is a crab whose main characteristic is its tongs, which have different sizes, one of them is very large. This great plier is called"violin claw".

There are 94 species of crabs violinists. These crabs fight each other to impress the females. It is considered that the violin claw is not always the strongest pliers and their large size is a way to impress and scare their enemies.

19- Octopuses

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Octopods or octopuses are marine omnivorous animals, which have 8 arms. These have sticky suction cups that adhere to different surfaces. They also have 3 hearts and their brain is very developed.

The blood of the octopus is blue because of the high level of iron it has. The third right arm of the male octopus is its sexual organ, which is used to fecundate the herbra. Octopuses are shy and are the most intelligent invertebrates.

There are different types of octopi, some dangerous and some not. For example, blue-ringed octopuses are poisonous.

20- Squid

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There are several species of squid. These mollusks owe their name to the calcareous bone in their head, known as feather or reed. They also have 3 hearts. Thanks to the chromatophores, special cells of your skin, the squids can change color.

When I feel in danger, the squid expels ink. These animals expel water under pressure, which allows them to move.

21- Fabiana

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The red or orange-colored fabiana or bigeye octopus with white fluorescent spots. Unlike other octopi, it is more curious and comes in contact with people who dive, if these do not behave in a threatening way. They live in East Africa, the Mediterranean Sea and Red.

22- Umbraculum umbraculum

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The umbraculum umbraculum is a species of mollusc that inhabits the cracks of the rocks or is kept under the sand. It can live up to 100 meters from the depths. In New Zealand is where there is the largest reserve of this invertebrate.

23- Chocos

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The sepíidos or cuttlefish are cephalopod molluscs that are distinguished by their coloring. The chromatophores on their skin allow them to camouflage themselves and manipulate the light to send messages to their friends and warn them about predators in case of danger.

Sepia can manipulate their color to adopt the color of different surfaces, can leave traces of color, which disorient predators and make them believe that sepia are larger.

Their eyes are special because they capture the polarization of light and can look back and forth at the same time. It also has 3 hearts and its blood is blue-green because of the copper it contains.

24- Shrimp

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Shrimp are decapod crustaceans, ie 10 feet, freshwater, much smaller than prawns and prawns. There are species of river and others of tropical waters. There are more than 2,500 types of shrimp.

We can find them in different sizes, from 2 to 37 millimeters. For example, the shrimp dweller lives in subtidal areas and is a very shy animal that stays hidden during the day. It travels in numerous groups and feeds on carrion, small invertebrates and organic matter.

25- Prawns

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Prawns or lancostadae are decapod crustaceans of the suborder Dendrobranchiata , Which inhabit all the seas of the world. Its length varies from 12 to 15 centimeters. They live in different depths.

26- Nautilinos

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The nautilins are one of the oldest species and are considered true living fossils. Its species has survived for millions of years and has not undergone major changes. These animals have a prominent head and many tentacles. It moves when using jet propulsion. This animal can survive in conditions of lack of oxygen, as it is able to regulate your heart rate.

27- Sea shells

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The sea shells are marine mollusks, whose main feature is their shell. Many of them can survive in water and on land. The shells are made of calcium and have a spiral shape. There are approximately 75,000 species. Their shell gives them an advantage over predators to defend themselves. They live in all environments of fresh and salt water.


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