{"thcode":2,"term":{"code":606,"name":"invertebrates","parent":45,"scope":"Animals having no backbone or spinal column, such as insects, mollusks, crustaceans, worms, and similar organisms."},"uf":[],"bt":[{"code":45,"name":"animals","parent":843,"scope":"Multi-celled organisms of the kingdom Animalia with eukaryotic cells (cells with distinct nuclei containing genetic material and bounded by thin membranes) that are heterotrophic (obtaining energy from organic substances produced by other organisms)."},{"code":843,"name":"organisms","parent":1174,"scope":"Living individuals that grow, reproduce, and die."},{"code":1174,"name":"topics","parent":1,"scope":"Themes, subjects, and concerns for which USGS information resources are relevant."},{"code":1,"name":"Categories","parent":null,"scope":"Thematic terms for categorizing information resources.  This thesaurus is intended to support finding and understanding scientific information."}],"nt":[{"code":58,"name":"arthropods","parent":606,"scope":"Invertebrates belonging to the largest phylum of animals, Arthropoda, with an exoskeleton, segmented bodies, and jointed appendages, including many subphyla and classes, such as insects, crustaceans, horseshoe crabs, sea spiders, centipedes, millipedes, and the extinct trilobites."},{"code":130,"name":"bryozoans and brachiopods","parent":606,"scope":"Aquatic invertebrates, usually marine, belonging to the phyla Bryozoa and Brachiopoda.  Brachiopods, or clam shells, are solitary living invertebrates characterized by two shells and a lophophore, which is a complex food gathering organ.  Bryozoans are colonial and include moss coral and moss polyps."},{"code":177,"name":"coelenterates","parent":606,"scope":"Freshwater and marine invertebrates, such as corals, jellyfish, and sea anemones, belonging to the phylum Coelenterata and living as sedentary polyps or free swimming medusae."},{"code":192,"name":"conodonts","parent":606,"scope":"Microscopic teeth of primitive, boneless, eel-like animals, similar to modern hagfish, that lived in many of the world's oceans from the Cambrian through Triassic Periods of geologic time (550 to 210 million years ago)."},{"code":305,"name":"echinoderms","parent":606,"scope":"Marine invertebrates of the phylum Echinodermata with a radial body and a calcareous exoskeleton. Includes starfishes, brittle stars, sea lilies, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers."},{"code":757,"name":"mollusks","parent":606,"scope":"Invertebrates belonging to the phylum Mollusca with soft, nonsegmented bodies, often covered by a hard shell.  Includes snails, clams, oysters, whelks, mussels, slugs, octopuses, and squids."},{"code":1094,"name":"sponges","parent":606,"scope":"Aquatic invertebrates belonging to the phylum Porifera having internal skeletons of silica or collagen, porous body around a cavity or cavities, and usually living in stationary communities."},{"code":1733,"name":"tunicates","parent":606,"scope":"Marine organisms of the subphylum tunicata of the phylum chordata."},{"code":1336,"name":"worms","parent":606,"scope":"Invertebrate animals of the phyla Annelida, Nematoda, Memertea, or Plathyhelminthes, that have long thin rounded or flat bodies without obvious appendages."}],"rt":[{"code":604,"name":"invertebrate paleontology","parent":861,"scope":"Branch of paleontology which deals with fossil animals without backbones."},{"code":605,"name":"invertebrate zoology","parent":1339,"scope":"Branch of biology dealing with animals having no backbones or spinal columns."}]}