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.
Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some bioluminescent bacteria, and terrestrial arthropods such as fireflies. In some animals, the light is bacteriogenic, produced by symbiotic bacteria such as those from the genus Vibrio; in others, it is autogenic, produced by the animals themselves.
Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence also occurs in the families Elateridae, Phengodidae, and Rhagophthalmidae among beetles; as well as members of the genera Arachnocampa, Keroplatus, and Orfelia among keroplatid fungus gnats.
Epitoky is a process that occurs in many species of polychaete marine worms wherein a sexually immature worm is modified or transformed into a sexually mature worm. Epitokes are pelagic morphs capable of sexual reproduction. Unlike the immature form, which is typically benthic, epitokes are specialized for swimming as well as reproducing. The primary benefit to epitoky is increased chances of finding other members of the same species for reproduction.
The grey triggerfish or gray triggerfish, is a ray-finned fish in the triggerfish family. The species is native to shallow parts of the western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Argentina and also the eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea and off Angola on the west coast of Africa.
Photoproteins are a type of enzyme, made of protein, from bioluminescent organisms. They add to the function of the luciferins whose usual light-producing reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme luciferase.
Chaetopterus or the parchment worm or parchment tube worm is a genus of marine polychaete worm that lives in a tube it constructs in sediments or attaches to a rocky or coral reef substrate. The common name arises from the parchment-like appearance of the tubes that house these worms. Parchment tube worms are filter feeders and spend their adult lives in their tubes, unless the tube is damaged or destroyed. They are planktonic in their juvenile forms, as is typical for polychaete annelids. Species include the recently discovered deep water Chaetopterus pugaporcinus and the well-studied Chaetopterus variopedatus.
Quantula striata, also known as Dyakia striata, is a species of medium-sized, air-breathing, tropical land snail. It is a terrestrial, pulmonate, gastropod mollusk in the family Dyakiidae. This species appears to be unique among terrestrial gastropods in that it is bioluminescent: Its eggs glow in the dark, and juveniles and most adults give off flashes of green light. It is the only species in the genus Quantula.
The seaweed blenny is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the western Atlantic Ocean along the coasts of New York, Bermuda, the Bahamas, also in the Gulf of Mexico, south to southern Brazil. This species reaches a length of 8.5 centimetres (3.3 in) TL.
Motyxia is a genus of cyanide-producing millipedes that are endemic to the southern Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, and Santa Monica mountain ranges of California. Motyxias are blind and produce the poison cyanide, like all members of the Polydesmida. All species have the ability to glow brightly: some of the few known instances of bioluminescence in millipedes.
Ophionereis reticulata, the reticulated brittle star, is a brittle star in the family Ophionereididae. It is found in shallow parts of the western Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
Osedax roseus is a species of bathypelagic polychaete worm that lives at abyssal depths and is able to sustain itself on the bones of dead whales. The species is found in the North East Pacific.
Osedax frankpressi is a species of bathypelagic polychaete worm that lives on the seabed and sustains itself on the bones of dead whales. It can be found in the East North Pacific Ocean. The specific epithet is named in honor of Frank Press "for his distinguished service to science".
Osedax japonicus is a species of bathypelagic polychaete tube worm that lives at great depths on the seabed and is able to sustain itself on the bones of a dead whale. It was first described in 2006 from a sunken sperm whale carcase near Kyushu, Japan.
Monacanthus ciliatus, commonly known as the fringed filefish, the cuckold or the leather-fish, is a species of bony fish commonly found in shallow water in the western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
Odontosyllis phosphorea, commonly known as a fireworm, is a polychaete worm that inhabits the Pacific coast of North and Central America. The organism normally lives in a tube on the seabed, but it becomes bioluminescent when it rises to the surface of the sea during breeding season.
The Atlantic batfish is a species of fish in the family Ogcocephalidae. It is found in deep water in the Atlantic Ocean where it lives on the seabed, feeding on small invertebrates.
Lepidonotus squamatus is a species of polychaete worm, commonly known as a "scale worm", in the family Polynoidae. This species occurs in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. It was first described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 as Aphrodita squamata but was later transferred to the genus Lepidonotus.
Neanthes arenaceodentata is a species of marine polychaete worm in the family Nereididae. It occurs in shallow waters in the tropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It has been used in the laboratory in testing the toxicity of marine sediments.
Processa edulis is a species of caridean shrimp found in shallow water in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It mostly inhabits seagrass beds and eelgrass flats, hiding by day and feeding at night. A common name for it is nika shrimp.
