Superphylum Lophotrochozoa: Flatworms, Rotifers, and Nemerteans

Phylum Rotifera

The rotifers ("wheel-bearer") belong to a group of microscopic (about 100 µm to 2 mm) mostly aquatic animals that get their name from the corona—a pair of ciliated feeding structures that appear to rotate when viewed under the light microscope (Figure). Although their taxonomic status is currently in flux, one treatment places the rotifers in three classes: Bdelloidea, Monogononta, and Seisonidea. In addition, the parasitic “spiny headed worms” currently in phylum Acanthocephala, appear to be modified rotifers and will probably be placed into the group in the near future. Undoubtedly the rotifers will continue to be revised as more phylogenetic evidence becomes available.

The pseudocoelomate body of a rotifer is remarkably complex for such a small animal (roughly the size of a Paramecium) and is divided into three sections: a head (which contains the corona), a trunk (which contains most of the internal organs), and the foot. A cuticle, rigid in some species and flexible in others, covers the body surface. They have both skeletal muscle associated with locomotion and visceral muscles associated with the gut, both composed of single cells. Rotifers are typically free-swimming or planktonic (drifting) organisms, but the toes or extensions of the foot can secrete a sticky material to help them adhere to surfaces. The head contains a number of eyespots and a bilobed “brain,” with nerves extending into the body.

Scanning electron micrograph A shows rotifers from the class Bdelloidea, which have a long, tube-shaped body with a fringe surrounding the mouth. Light micrograph B shows that Polyarthra from the class Monogononta is shorter and wider than the bdelloid rotifers, with a smaller fringe.
Rotifers. Shown are examples from two of the three classes of rotifer. (a) Species from the class Bdelloidea are characterized by a large corona. The whole animals in the center of this scanning electron micrograph are shown surrounded by several sets of jaws from the mastax of rotifers. (b) Polyarthra, from the largest rotifer class Monogononta, has a smaller corona than bdelloid rotifers, and a single gonad, which give the class its name. (credit a: modification of work by Diego Fontaneto; credit b: modification of work by U.S. EPA; scale-bar data from Cory Zanker)

Rotifers are commonly found in freshwater and some saltwater environments throughout the world. As filter feeders, they will eat dead material, algae, and other microscopic living organisms, and are therefore very important components of aquatic food webs. A rotifer's food is directed toward the mouth by the current created from the movement of the coronal cilia. The food particles enter the mouth and travel first to the mastax—a muscular pharynx with toothy jaw-like structures. Examples of the jaws of various rotifers are seen in Figurea. Masticated food passes near digestive and salivary glands, into the stomach, and then to the intestines. Digestive and excretory wastes are collected in a cloacal bladder before being released out the anus.

Link to Learning

Watch this video to see rotifers feeding.

About 2,200 species of rotifers have been identified. Figure shows the anatomy of a rotifer belonging to class Bdelloidea. Some rotifers are dioecious organisms and exhibit sexual dimorphism (males and females have different forms). In many dioecious species, males are short-lived and smaller with no digestive system and a single testis. Many rotifer species exhibit haplodiploidy, a method of sex determination in which a fertilized egg develops into a female and an unfertilized egg develops into a male. However, reproduction in the bdelloid rotifers is exclusively parthenogenetic and appears to have been so for millions of years: Thus, all bdelloid rotifers and their progeny are female! The bdelloids may compensate for this genetic insularity by borrowing genes from the DNA of other species. Up to 10% of a bdelloid genome comprises genes imported from related species. Some rotifer eggs are capable of extended dormancy for protection during harsh environmental conditions.

The illustration shows long, tube-shaped animal with a crown-like corona on top. Cilia fringe the top of the corona. Between the two lobes of the corona is the mouth, which leads to the stomach, intestine, and anus. The mastax surround the mouth, and beneath the mastax is a digestive gland. The pseudocoel surrounds the stomach. At the bottom if the animal is a foot that stands on two toes.
A bdelloid rotifer. This illustration shows the anatomy of a bdelloid rotifer.