Symmetry, in biology, the repetition of the parts in an animal or plant in an orderly fashion. Specifically, symmetry refers to a correspondence of body parts, in size, shape, and relative position, on opposite sides of a dividing line or distributed around a central point or axis. With the exception of radial symmetry, external form has little relation to internal anatomy, since animals of very different anatomical construction may have the same type of symmetry.

Certain animals, particularly most sponges and the ameboid protozoans, lack symmetry, having either an irregular shape different for each individual or else one undergoing constant changes of form. The vast majority of animals, however, exhibit a definite symmetrical form. Four such patterns of symmetry occur among animals: spherical, radial, biradial, and bilateral.

In spherical symmetry, illustrated only by the protozoan groups Radiolaria and Heliozoia, the body has the shape of a sphere and the parts are arranged concentrically around or radiate from the centre of the sphere. Such an animal has no ends or sides, and any plane passing through the centre will divide the animal into equivalent halves. The spherical type of symmetry is possible only in minute animals of simple internal construction, since in spheres the interior mass is large relative to the surface area and becomes too large for efficient functioning with increase in size and complexity.

In radial symmetry the body has the general form of a short or long cylinder or bowl, with a central axis from which the body parts radiate or along which they are arranged in regular fashion. The main axis is heteropolar—i.e., with unlike ends, one of which bears the mouth and is termed the oral, or anterior, end, and the other of which, called the aboral, or posterior, end, forms the rear end of the animal and may bear the anus. The main axis is hence termed the oral-aboral, or anteroposterior, axis. Except in animals having an odd number of parts arranged in circular fashion (as in the five-armed starfishes), any plane passing through this axis will divide the animal into symmetrical halves. Animals having three, five, seven, etc., parts in a circle have symmetry that may be referred to, respectively, as three-rayed, five-rayed, seven-rayed, etc.; only certain planes through the axis will divide such animals into symmetrical halves. Radial symmetry is found in the coelenterates and echinoderms.

In biradial symmetry, in addition to the anteroposterior axis, there are also two other axes or planes of symmetry at right angles to it and to each other: the sagittal, or median vertical-longitudinal, and transverse, or cross, axes. Such an animal therefore not only has two ends but also has two pairs of symmetrical sides. There are but two planes of symmetry in a biradial animal, one passing through the anteroposterior and sagittal axes and the other through the anteroposterior and transverse axes. Biradial symmetry occurs in the comb jellies.

In bilateral symmetry there are the same three axes as in biradial symmetry but only one pair of symmetrical sides, the lateral sides, since the other two sides, called the dorsal (back) and ventral (belly) surfaces, are unlike. Thus, only one plane of symmetry will divide a bilateral animal into symmetrical halves, the median longitudinal, or sagittal, plane. Bilateral symmetry is characteristic of the vast majority of animals, including insects, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and most crustaceans.

The concept of symmetry is also applied in botany. A flower is considered symmetrical when each whorl consists of an equal number of parts or when the parts of any one whorl are multiples of that preceding it. Thus, a symmetrical flower may have five sepals, five petals, five stamens, and five carpels, or the number of any of these parts may be a multiple of five.

  • Sweetbrier, or eglantine (Rosa eglanteria)
    The regular, bisexual flowers of sweetbrier, or eglantine (Rosa eglanteria), generally …
    E.S. Ross
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The number of parts in the pistillate whorl is frequently not in conformity with that in the other whorls, but in such cases the flower is still called symmetrical, provided that the other whorls are normal. A flower in which the parts are in twos is dimerous; in threes, fours, or fives, trimerous, tetramerous, or pentamerous, respectively. Trimerous symmetry is the rule in the monocotyledons, pentamerous the most common in the dicotyledons, although dimerous and tetramerous flowers also occur in the latter group.

  • An inferior ovary at the base of the flower of Fuchsia precedes the floral tube formed by the four sepals and four petals.
    The floral parts of Fuchsia are arranged in multiples of four. An inferior ovary at the base …
    Horticultural Photography, Corvallis, Oregon


  • An irregular flower having three petals of unequal size (two large and one small), Commelina communis (Asiatic dayflower) also has six dimorphic stamens, of which three are long and fertile (one curves inward) and three are infertile and bear cross-shaped anthers.
    E.S. Ross
  • Orchid (Vanda).
    Bilateral symmetry of the orchid (Vanda)
    E.S. Ross

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The bodies of most animals and plants are organized according to one of three types of symmetry: spherical, radial, or bilateral. A spherically symmetrical body is similar throughout and can be cut in any plane through the centre to yield two equal halves. A few of the simplest plants and animals are spherically symmetrical—e.g., protozoans such as Radiolaria and Heliozoia....
Soybeans (Glycine max) more variable than the other three groups. The leaves are usually divided into leaflets (compound), or else the leaflets are again divided into leaflets (bicompound). The flowers also vary in symmetric form, from nearly radial to bilateral to irregular (symmetric in no plane). The sepals are usually separate and imbricate (overlapping in the bud). There are generally five separate...
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