Sea worm
Encyclopedia
Sea worm is a general term that may refer to a number of phyla
of animals, or may refer specifically to:
Phylum
In biology, a phylum The term was coined by Georges Cuvier from Greek φῦλον phylon, "race, stock," related to φυλή phyle, "tribe, clan." is a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. "Phylum" is equivalent to the botanical term division....
of animals, or may refer specifically to:
- AcanthocephalaAcanthocephalaAcanthocephala is a phylum of parasitic worms known as acanthocephales, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an evertable proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to pierce and hold the gut wall of its host...
, parasitic worm - AnnelidaAnnelidThe annelids , formally called Annelida , are a large phylum of segmented worms, with over 17,000 modern species including ragworms, earthworms and leeches...
, segmented worms - ChaetognathaChaetognathaChaetognatha, meaning hair-jaws, and commonly known as arrow worms, are a phylum of predatory marine worms that are a major component of plankton worldwide. About 20% of the known species are benthic, that is belonging to the lowest zone of the ocean, or benthic zone, and can attach to algae and...
, arrow worms - CycliophoraSymbionSymbion is the name of a genus of aquatic animals, less than ½ mm wide, found living attached to the bodies of cold-water lobsters. They have sac-like bodies, and three distinctly different forms in different parts of their two-stage life-cycle...
, lobster worms - EntoproctaEntoproctaEntoprocta, whose name means "anus inside", is a phylum of mostly sessile aquatic animals, ranging from long. Mature individuals are goblet-shaped, on relatively long stalks. They have a "crown" of solid tentacles whose cilia generate water currents that draw food particles towards the mouth, and...
- EchiuraEchiuraThe Echiura, or spoon worms, are a small group of marine animals. They are often considered to be a group of annelids, although they lack the segmented structure found in other members of that group, and so may also be treated as a separate phylum...
, spoon worms - GastrotrichaGastrotrichThe gastrotrichs are a phylum of microscopic animals abundant in fresh water and marine environments. Most fresh water species are part of the periphyton and benthos...
, microscopic - GnathostomulidaGnathostomulidGnathostomulids, or jaw worms, are a small phylum of nearly microscopic marine animals. They inhabit sand and mud beneath shallow coastal waters and can survive in relatively anoxic environments. They were first recognised and described in 1956....
, microscopic - HemichordataHemichordataHemichordata is a phylum of marine deuterostome animals, generally considered the sister group of the echinoderms. They date back to the Lower or Middle Cambrian and include two main classes: Enteropneusta , and Pterobranchia. A third class, Planctosphaeroidea, is known only from the larva of a...
- KinorhynchaKinorhynchaKinorhyncha is a phylum of small marine pseudocoelomate invertebrates that are widespread in mud or sand at all depths as part of the meiobenthos...
- LoriciferaLoriciferaLoricifera is a phylum of very small to microscopic marine sediment-dwelling animals with twenty-two described species, in eight genera. Aside from these described species, there are approximately 100 more that have been collected and not yet described. Their size ranges from 100 µm to ca....
- MicrognathozoaLimnognathiaLimnognathia maerski is a microscopic animal, discovered living in homothermic springs on Disko Island, Greenland in 1994, that has variously been assigned as a class or subphylum in the phylum Gnathifera or as a phylum in a Gnathifera superphylum, named Micrognathozoa. It is related to the...
, microscopic - NematodaNematodeThe nematodes or roundworms are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of nematode...
, round worms - NematomorphaNematomorphaNematomorpha is a phylum of parasitic animals that are superficially morphologically similar to nematode worms, hence the name. They range in size in most species from long and can reach in extreme cases up to 2 metres, and in diameter...
, parasitic worms - NemerteaNemerteaNemertea is a phylum of invertebrate animals also known as "ribbon worms" or "proboscis worms". Alternative names for the phylum have included Nemertini, Nemertinea and Rhynchocoela. Although most are less than long, one specimen has been estimated at , which would make it the longest animal ever...
, ribbon worms - PhoronidaPhoronidPhoronids are a phylum of marine animals that filter-feed with a lophophore , and build upright tubes of chitin to support and protect their soft bodies. They live in all the oceans and seas including the Arctic Ocean but excluding the Antarctic Ocean, and between the intertidal zone and about...
, horseshoe worms - PlatyhelmintheaFlatwormThe flatworms, known in scientific literature as Platyhelminthes or Plathelminthes are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrate animals...
, flatworms - PriapulidaPriapulidaPriapulida is a phylum of marine worms. They are named for their extensible spiny proboscis, which, in some species, may have a shape like that of a human penis...
- SipunculaSipunculaThe Sipuncula or Sipunculida is a group containing 144-320 species of bilaterally symmetrical, unsegmented marine worms...
, peanut worms - Xenoturbellida