Digestion is extracellular and intracellular and the gut is divided into digestive and distributive regions as it is in scyphozoans. Cilia are well developed and used for a variety of purposes. Locomotion is accomplished by eight longitudinal rows ciliary plates. Cilia are also involved in sensory reception and some function in a mechanical, rather than neuronal, communication system. The mesoglea contains cells of several types, especially muscle.
Ctenophores are hermaphrodite and many are bioluminescent.
Cydippid ctenophores, such as Pleurobrachia , the sea gooseberry, are primitive comb jellies more or less typical of the phylum. Pleurobrachia pileus , which is the species usually available commercially, is a small animal, about 1 cm in diameter. If your specimen is transparent, you will find transmitted light to be preferable to incident. Handle your specimen carefully as it is delicate. The ctenophore body wall, like that of cnidarians, consists of a thin, simple, outer epidermis and a thin inner gastrodermis lining the coelenteron.