The coenosarc constitutes a system by which the digestive cavity of any one polyp is put into communication with that of any other individual either of the trophosome or gonosome.
In this manner the food absorbed by one individual contributes to the welfare of the whole colony, and the coenosarc has the 6 C FIG.
A typical Siphonophore is a stock or cormus consisting of a number of appendages placed in organic connexion with one another by means of a coenosarc. The coenosarc does not differ in structure from that already described in colonial Hydrozoa.
The coenosarc may consist of a single elongated tube or stolon, forming the stem or axis of the cormus on which, usually, the appendages are arranged in groups termed cormidia; or it may take the form of a compact mass of ramifying, anastomosing tubes, in which case the cormus as a whole has a compact form and cormidia are not distinguishable.
In the Disconectae the coenosarc forms a spongy mass, the " centradenia," which is partly hepatic in function, forming the socalled liver, and partly excretory.