Ophelina acuminata
| Ophelina acuminata | ||||||||||||
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Ophelina acuminata |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ophelina acuminata | ||||||||||||
| ( Oersted , 1843) |
Ophelina acuminata is a cosmopolitan marine annelid worm belonging to the genus Ophelina within the multi - bristle family of the Opheliidae .
features
Ophelina acuminata has a slender body up to 6 cm long, tapering to a point at each end with a continuous gutter on the abdomen and up to 50 further finely ringed segments . The cone-shaped prostomium is longer than it is wide and ends in a finger-like process that is slightly thickened at the tip. The parapodia have small lobules and small cirrus cirrus on the abdomen . The long, cirrus-shaped gills are present on all bristle-bearing segments with the exception of the first segment and the last two to three segments. The anus is surrounded by a spoon-shaped hood, open on the abdomen, the edge of which ends in eight to ten finger-like appendages. On the anus there are two large anal papillae within the hood and a long cirrus between them.
The animal is yellowish to pearly gray, while the gills, which are well supplied with blood, are bright red due to the hemoglobin dissolved in the blood plasma .
The intestine of Ophelina acuminata is divided into three sections, with the midgut being divided into a left and right canal by a dorsoventral wall.
distribution and habitat
Ophelina acuminata is cosmopolitan in all oceans, so in the northern Atlantic Ocean including the North Sea to Öresund , but also off the coasts of South Africa and in the Pacific Ocean on the coasts of New Caledonia and Australia .
The bristle worm lives on sand and mud from the intertidal zone to a depth of around 1500 m.
Way of life
Ophelina acuminata burrows through the upper layers of the sandy substrate, but can also swim like a snake. The animal feeds on detritus that adheres to the substrate. The reproductive cycle has not yet been researched.
literature
- PJ Hayward, JS Ryland: Handbook of the Marine Fauna of North-West Europe. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995. p. 212.
Web links
- MJ de Kluijver et al .: Ophelina acuminata Oersted, 1843. Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Polychaeta, Marine Species Identification Portal