Endoskeleton three phyla and one subclass of animals, endoskeletons of various complexity are found: Chordata, Echinodermata, Porifera, and Coleoidea. An endoskeleton may function purely for support (as in the case of sponges), but often serves as an attachment site for muscle and a mechanism for transmitting muscular forces. A true endoskeleton is derived from mesodermal tissue. Such a skeleton is present in echinoderms and chordates. The poriferan 'skeleton' consists of microscopic calcareous or siliceous spicules or a spongin network. The Coleoidae do not have a true endoskeleton in the evolutionary sense; there, a mollusk exoskeleton evolved into several sorts of internal
Bacterial phyla Despite these lineages not being officially recognised (due to the ever-increasing number of sequences belonging to undescribed phyla) the ARB-Silva database lists 67 phyla, including 37 candidate phyla (Acetothermia, Aerophobetes, Aminicenantes, aquifer1, aquifer2, Atribacteria, Calescamantes, CKC4, Cloacimonetes, GAL08, GOUTA4, Gracilibacteria, Fermentibacteria (Hyd24-12), Hydrogenedentes, JL-ETNP-Z39, Kazan-3B-09, Latescibacteria, LCP-89, LD1-PA38, Marinimicrobia, Microgenomates, OC31, Omnitrophica, Parcubacteria, PAUC34f, RsaHF231, S2R-29, Saccharibacteria, SBYG-2791, SHA-109, SM2F11, SR1, TA06, TM6, WCHB1-60, WD272, and WS6), the Ribosomal Database Project 10, lists 49 phyla, including 20 candidate phyla (Acetothermia, Aminicenantes, Atribacteria, BRC1, Calescamantes, Cloacimonetes, Hydrogenedentes, Ignavibacteriae, Latescibacteria, Marinimicrobia, Microgenomates, Nitrospinae, Omnitrophica, Parcubacteria, Poribacteria, SR1, Saccharibacteria, WPS-1, WPS-2, and ZB3),