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Overview of Marine Worms and Their Features

The document discusses three different types of marine worms: feather-duster worms, which live in tubes and have tentacles used for feeding; schizocoelomate worms, which have a body cavity formed by the splitting of tissue during development; and horseshoe worms, which live in secreted tubes and feed using a protrusible structure bearing many tentacles.

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Seok Williams
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5 views1 page

Overview of Marine Worms and Their Features

The document discusses three different types of marine worms: feather-duster worms, which live in tubes and have tentacles used for feeding; schizocoelomate worms, which have a body cavity formed by the splitting of tissue during development; and horseshoe worms, which live in secreted tubes and feed using a protrusible structure bearing many tentacles.

Uploaded by

Seok Williams
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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feather-duster worm, any large, segmented marine worm of the family Sabellidae (class Polychaeta,

phylum Annelida). The name is also occasionally applied to members of the closely related polychaete
family Serpulidae. Sabellids live in long tubes constructed of mud or sand cemented by mucus, whereas
serpulids build tubes of calcareous materials. The epithet feather-duster refers to the multicoloured
crown of finely divided tentacles that are attached in two groups, one on either side of the worm’s head.
The worm extends the tentacles for feeding and breathing but quickly retracts them at the first sign of
danger. The life cycle includes a free-living, microscopic larval stage that disperses from the parental site
and metamorphoses into adult form.

schizocoelomate, any invertebrate animal that possesses a schizocoel, a coelom (that is, the body cavity
lying between the digestive tract and the musculature of the body wall) formed through the splitting of
the mesodermal mass, the middle germ layer in embryonic development. The schizocoel is found in
many animals, including mollusks and annelid worms. Schizocoelomates are thus embryologically
distinct from enterocoelomates (deuterostomes), in which the coelom arises as an outpouching of the
enteron, or embryonic gut.

horseshoe worm, phylum name Phoronida, a small group (about 12 species) of wormlike marine
invertebrates that live in tubes secreted by special glands.

These protective tubes become encrusted with shells or are buried in sand. Horseshoe worms, or
phoronids, either are solitary or occur in groups of many thousands of individuals; one species is
colonial and buds asexually. The body of the horseshoe worm is elongated and measures from 15
to 200 mm (0.6 to 8 inches) in length. It has a U-shaped gut and nerve, excretory, and
reproductive organs. Feeding is by means of a protrusible lophophore, a structure at the anterior
end that bears a circle or paired spiral of as many as 1,500 ciliated tentacles. The cilia produce a
water current, and the tentacles trap food particles beneath a flap (epistome) that covers the
central mouth. Groups of lophophores are often grazed on by fish but are then regenerated.

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