Friday, February 26, 2016

POLYCHAETE WORMS

"A variety of marine worms": plate from Das Meer by M.J. Schleiden (1804–1881).Polychaete worms are scale worms found in marine habitats. These worms are sometimes called 'bristle worms' because they often bear spines. These worms can be found in small rivers, all the way to the deepest depths of the ocean, as in the Challenger Deep expedition, a small 2-3cm polychaete worm was found right at the bottom of the Mariana trench. There are more than 100,000 species of polychaete worms. Common representatives of polychaete worms are the lugworm, sandworm, and clamworm. Only 2% (168 species) of the polychaetes are found in fresh water. Polychaetes range in size from 2cm to 3m.    

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