Siboglinidae is a family of polychaete annelid worms whose members made up the former phyla Pogonophora and Vestimentifera. They are composed of about 100 species of vermiform creatures and live in thin tubes buried in sediments (Pogonophora) or in tubes attached to hard substratum (Vestimentifera) at ocean depths from 100 to 10,000 m. They can also be found in association with hydrothermal vents, methane seeps, sunken plant material, or whale carcasses.
The Polychaeta, also known as the bristle worms or polychaetes, are a paraphyletic class of annelid worms, generally marine. Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. More than 10,000 species are described in this class. Common representatives include the lugworm and the sandworm or clam worm Alitta.
Taxus brevifolia, the Pacific yew or western yew, is a species of tree in the yew family Taxaceae, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. It ranges from southernmost Alaska south to central California, mostly in the Pacific Coast Ranges, but with isolated disjunct populations in southeast British Columbia and in north to central Idaho.
Australonuphis, commonly called Australian beach worms, are a genus of polychaetous annelid of the family Onuphidae that inhabit the intertidal zone of coastal beaches and are attracted to the surface by the stimulus of food. They are sought by anglers to be used as bait for fishing. Some species can grow more than two metres in length. They are blind but have a very good sense of smell, and eat decaying meat, fish and seaweeds that have washed to shore.
Spirobranchus giganteus, commonly known as the Christmas tree worm, is a tube-building polychaete worm belonging to the family Serpulidae.
The Serpulidae are a family of sessile, tube-building annelid worms in the class Polychaeta. The members of this family differ from other sabellid tube worms in that they have a specialized operculum that blocks the entrance of their tubes when they withdraw into the tubes. In addition, serpulids secrete tubes of calcium carbonate. Serpulids are the most important biomineralizers among annelids. About 300 species in the family Serpulidae are known, all but one of which live in saline waters. The earliest serpulids are known from the Permian.
Sabellidae, or feather duster worms, are a family of marine polychaete tube worms characterized by protruding feathery branchiae. Sabellids build tubes out of a tough, parchment-like exudate, strengthened with sand and bits of shell. Unlike the other sabellids, the genus Glomerula secretes a tube of calcium carbonate instead. Sabellidae can be found in subtidal habitats around the world. Their oldest fossils are known from the Early Jurassic.
Lanice,, is a genus of burrowing marine polychaetes typically found in the littoral zone.
Bispira brunnea, the social feather duster or cluster duster, is a species of marine bristleworm. They tend to live in groups of individuals, and are common off the Caribbean islands in southeast North America. The feather duster has one crown of various colors, however, the color of the crown seems to be consistent within individual colonies.
A tubeworm is any worm-like sessile invertebrate that anchors its tail to an underwater surface and secretes around its body a mineral tube, into which it can withdraw its entire body.
Serpula is a genus of sessile, marine annelid tube worms that belongs to the family Serpulidae. Serpulid worms are very similar to tube worms of the closely related sabellid family, except that the former possess a cartilaginous operculum that occludes the entrance to their protective tube after the animal has withdrawn into it. The most distinctive feature of worms of the genus Serpula is their colorful fan-shaped "crown". The crown, used by these animals for respiration and alimentation, is the structure that is most commonly seen by scuba divers and other casual observers.
Sabellastarte spectabilis is a species of benthic marine polychaete worm in the Sabellidae family. It is commonly known as the feather duster worm, feather duster or fan worm. It is native to tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific but has spread to other parts of the world. It is popular in aquariums because of its distinctive appearance and its ability to remove organic particles and improve water quality.
Kirk J. Fitzhugh is the curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, a position he has held since 1990. His research focuses on the systematics of polychaetes and on the philosophical foundations of evolutionary theory. Fitzhugh is a critic of DNA barcoding methods as a technical substitute for systematics. He attends Willi Hennig Society meetings where he has argued that "synapomorphy as evidence does not meet the scientific standard of independence...a particularly serious challenge to phylogenetic systematics, because it denies that the most severely tested and least disconfirmed cladogram can also maximize explanatory power." His graduate supervisor was V. A. Funk, from the U.S. National Herbarium, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution MRC. He completed his doctoral thesis on Systematics and phylogeny of Sabellid polychaetes in 1988 while he was a research scientist at the LA County museum He married a lawyer named Nancy E. Gold in 1989.
Biomineralising polychaetes are polychaetes that biomineralize.
Rotularia is an extinct genus of planispirally coiled fossil polychaete worms in the family Serpulidae. Owing to the gastropod-like shape of Rotularia, many authors in the past interpreted this genus as being sea snails in the family Vermetidae.
Terebellides is a genus of polychaete worms in the family Trichobranchidae.
Jasmineira is a genus of polychaetes.
Acromegalomma interruptum is a bristle worm from the Sabellidae family. The body of the worm consists of a head, a cylindrical, segmented body and a tailpiece. The head consists of a prostomium and a peristomium and carries paired appendages.
Benhamipolynoe is a genus of marine annelids in the family Polynoidae. The genus is known from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and includes 2 species.
Neopolynoe antarctica is a scale worm known from the Magallanes Region of the South Atlantic Ocean and from the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand at depths to about 200 m.
