Symmetry in biology Most radially symmetric animals are symmetrical about an axis extending from the center of the oral surface, which contains the mouth to the center of the opposite, , end. Radial symmetry is especially suitable for sessile animals such as the sea anemone, floating animals such as jellyfish, and slow moving organisms such as starfish. Animals in the phyla Cnidaria and Echinodermata are radially symmetric, although many sea anemones and some corals have bilateral symmetry defined by a single structure, the siphonoglyph. Many flowers are radially symmetric or actinomorphic. Roughly identical flower parts – petals, sepals, and stamens – occur at
Worm were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, the Chordata, while his Insecta (which included the crustaceans and arachnids) and Vermes have been renamed or broken up. The process was begun in 1793 by Lamarck, who called the Vermes "une espèce de chaos" (a sort of chaos) and split the group into three new phyla, worms, echinoderms, and polyps (which contained corals and jellyfish). By 1809, in his "Philosophie Zoologique", Lamarck had created 9 phyla apart from vertebrates