Chaetopteridae

Chaetopteridae
Chaetopterus variopedatus (Renier, 1804)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Clade: Pleistoannelida
Clade: Sedentaria
Order: Spionida
Family: Chaetopteridae
Audouin & Milne Edwards, 1833[1]
Genera

See text

The Chaetopteridae are a family of marine filter-feeding polychaete worms that live in vertical or U-shaped tubes in tunnels buried in the sedimentary or hard substrate of marine environments. The worms are highly adapted to the hard tube they secrete. Inside the tube the animal is segmented and regionally specialized, with highly modified appendages on different segments for cutting the tunnel, feeding, or creating suction for the flow of water through the tube home. The modified segments for feeding are on the 12th segment from the head for members of this family.[2]

  1. ^ Read, Geoffrey (2014). "Chaetopteridae: Audouin & Milne Edwards, 1833". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  2. ^ Ruppert, E., Fox, R., & Barnes, R. (2007). Invertebrate Zoology: A functional Evolutionary Approach. 7th Edition. Belmont:Thomson Learning. ISBN 0-03-025982-7