主题:动物/精选条目/4

内肛动物门（学名：Entoprocta）是动物界的一个门。分类上曾一度把它们与外肛动物门合称为苔藓动物门（Bryozoa）。后来发现内肛动物为假体腔动物，而外肛动物为真体腔动物，现行分类已将这两类动物独立成门。内肛动物大约有150多种，绝大多数体型不超过5mm。 内肛动物门，水生无脊椎动物，分布于全世界，主要见于海洋生境。有少数生活于淡水。内肛动物为单体或通过出芽方式形成相互交通的群体；其中，每个个体称为个员，高仅0.4～0.5毫米，有一条柄，可以互相结合，柄可附着在贝壳、海草或其他会产生水流的动物，如海绵、苔藓动物、水螅和环节动物上。身上有一个球状的头部（萼），其中包容一个U形的消化道以及神经、排泄和生殖系统。具纤毛的触手排成冠状，用以产生水流，将食物颗粒送入位于中央的口部。营群体生活的各类常将萼总抛弃，然后再生。营单体生活的种类可以生出子芽，子芽成熟后脱离母体。虽然内肛动物的幼体及其早期发育方式表明内肛动物可能与环节动物和与环节动物近缘的门有遥远的亲缘关系，但无证据表明内肛动物与任何门的动物为近缘。

Entoprocta is a phylum of mostly sessile aquatic animals, ranging from 0.1 to 7 millimetres (0.0039 to 0.28 in) long. Mature individuals are goblet-shaped, on relatively long stalks. They have a "crown" of solid tentacles whose cilia generate water currents that draw food particles towards the mouth, and both the mouth and anus lie inside the "crown". The superficially similar Bryozoa (Ectoprocta) have the anus outside a "crown" of hollow tentacles. Most families of entoprocts are colonial, and all but 2 of the 150 species are marine. A few solitary species can move slowly. Some species eject unfertilized ova into the water while others keep their ova in brood chambers until they hatch, and some of these species use placenta-like organs to nourish the developing eggs. After hatching, the larvae swim for a short time and then settle on a surface. There they metamorphose, and the larval gut generally rotates by up to 180°, so that the mouth and anus face upwards. Both colonial and solitary species also reproduce by cloning — solitary species grow clones in the space between the tentacles and then release them when developed, while colonial ones produce new members from the stalks or from corridor-like stolons. Some species of nudibranchs ("sea slugs") and turbellarian flatworms prey on entoprocts. A few entoproct species have been found living in close association with other animals. It is uncertain whether any are invasive species.