Chaetopterus variopedatus
Chaetopterus variopedatus | ||||||||||||
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![]() Chaetopterus variopedatus (part of Figure 3, top left) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Chaetopterus variopedatus | ||||||||||||
( Renier , 1804) |
Chaetopterus variopedatus is a species of annelid worms belonging to the family of Chaetopteridae and thus the Vielborstern belongs (polychaete). Parchment worm or shining bristle-floss are used as German trivial names .
description
The parchment worm is about 25 cm long (then 85 segments) and 2 cm in diameter. The color is greenish yellow to whitish, older males are white, females are orange. The body is elongated and articulated. The front part has nine, the middle part five segments and the rear part with 20-70 bristles (Chaetae). The pygidium has no appendages. The head end ( prostomium ) is narrow, disc-shaped, with two eyes without an antenna . It is enclosed ventrally and laterally by the U-shaped peristome . The peristome has two tentacles. Except in the Arctic, it can be found worldwide predominantly in soft sedimentary soils in benthos, where it forms a U-shaped tube through the release of solidifying slime, which is open at two ends and whose ends protrude from the sandy soil.
Ingestion
Chaetopterus variopedatus has strongly modified parapodies. In the back area there are three notopodia that fill the space between the body of the worm and the tube and beat back and forth with muscle power. This results in a flow of water from the front to the rear of the tube. In the head area there are two notopodia that form a circle. Mucus is secreted at the two tips, which is turned into a sack by the flow of water. This in turn is caught by a third notopodus further back on the body and rolled up. Food particles can be absorbed by the flowing water, such as B. microalgae and bacteria. The mucous sac is regularly transported to the mouth, absorbed and renewed.
particularities
Chaetopterus variopedatus has blue bioluminescence when irritated .
literature
- MacGinitie: The method of feeding of Chaetopterus , Biological Bulletin 1939
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chaetopterus variopedatus at species-identification.org (English, accessed on September 28, 2009)
Web links
- Chaetopterus variopedatus at MarBEF Data System (accessed on September 29, 2009)
- Chaetopterus variopedatus at www.uebersee-museum.de (accessed on September 26, 2009)