Coelomates: Animals with Internal Body Cavities
Coelomates are animals that have internal body cavities, or coeloms. Humans are coelomates, we have an abdomenal cavity (digestive organs, some of the excretory and reproductive organs) and a thoracic cavity (heart and lungs). Coelomates also form a variety of internal and external skeletons. External skeletons and coeloms appeared during the Cambrian-Ordovician time, These skeletons offered several advantages to their producers:
1. Secretion of a mineral shell that allowed the animal to use the shell as a mineral repository.
2. Protection from drying out in the intertidal zone during low tides.
3. Protection from predators.
4. Sites for anchoring muscle attachments, offering new patterns of locomotion and increased strength
Label: animals, body, cavities, coelomates, Internal
