What is Myxozoa?
{{taxobox | name = Myxozoa | image = Fdl17-9-grey.jpg | image_width = 270px | image caption = Triactinomyxon stage of ''[[Myxobolus cerebralis]]''. | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Cnidaria]] | unranked_classis = '''Myxozoa''' | unranked_classis_authority = Grassé, 1970 | subdivision_ranks = Classes | subdivision = * [[Malacosporea]] * [[Myxosporea]] }} The '''Myxozoa''' <ref>from Greek ''myx-'' = slime or mucus + ''zoa'' = animals</ref> are a group of [[Parasite|parasitic]] [[animal]]s of aquatic [[environment]]s. Some of them, such as ''[[Myxobolus cerebralis]]'', are important parasites of fishes that people eat. Over 1300 [[species]] have been described and many have a two-host [[life cycle]], involving a [[fish]] and an [[annelid]] worm or [[bryozoa]]n. They were once considered as [[parasitic]] [[protozoa]], but are now known to be members of the [[phylum]] [[Cnidaria]]. Analysis of 50 coding [[gene]]s from ''[[Buddenbrockia]]'' showed the Myxozoa were severely modified members of the Cnidaria. Similarities between myxozoan 'polar capsules' and cnidarian [[nematocyst]]s (stinging cells) had been known for a long time, but previously were thought to be the result of [[convergent evolution]].<ref> {{cite journal |author=E. Jímenez-Guri | display-authors = etal |date=July 2007 |title=''Buddenbrockia'' is a cnidarian worm |journal=Science |volume=317 |issue=116 |pages=116–118 |doi=10.1126/science.1142024 |pmid=17615357| bibcode = 2007Sci...317..116J | s2cid = 5170702 }}</ref><ref>Kent M.L., Margolis L. & Corliss J.O. 1994. The demise of a class of protists: taxonomic and nomenclatural revisions proposed for the protist phylum Myxozoa Grasse, 1970. ''Canadian Journal of Zoology'' '''72'''(5):932-937.</ref> == References == {{Reflist}} [[Category:Cnidarians]] [[Category:Parasites]]