Sternaspis scutata
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
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| ( Ranzani , 1817) |
Sternaspis scutata is the name of Vielborsters (Polychaeta) from the family of Sternaspidae , who as cosmopolitan in seas around the world in the mud as detritus can be found.
features
Sternaspis scutata , like other Sternaspidae, has a strikingly short, stocky body with a flat belly side that narrows in the middle. It has 22 segments and is up to 31 mm long. The prostomium is oval and very small. The first segment has no bristles, but the following three segments carry a vertical row of spiky bristles on each side . Another nine bristle-free segments follow. The rearmost 5 to 9 segments are fused on the abdomen to a reddish, chitin- stiffened end shield with two trapezoidal limestone plates, which is covered on both sides with 15 to 17 bundles of fine feather-shaped and smooth capillary-shaped bristles. The numerous, long, thread-like, well-perfused gills sit directly above the pygidium at the end of the body and are colored red. The body is whitish for lack of pigments.
distribution and habitat
Sternaspis scutata is found cosmopolitan from the Arctic to the Antarctic from the shores to great depths. It lives in sandy and muddy sedimentary soils.
Diet and Lifestyle
Sternaspis scutata feeds as substrate eaters of detritus , the ingested with sediment particles and digested, while the mineral components are excreted unchanged.
literature
- Stanley J. Edmonds: Fauna of Australia, Volume 4A. Polychaetes & Allies. The Southern Synthesis 4. Commonwealth of Australia, 2000. Class Polychaeta. Pp. 301-303, Family Sternaspidae.
Web links
- MJ de Kluijver et al .: Sternaspis scutata (Ranzani, 1817). Macrobenthos of the North Sea - Polychaeta, Marine Species Identification Portal.
- S. Richards: Sternaspis scutata (Ranzani, 1817). In: H. Tyler-Walters, K. Hiscock (Eds.): Marine Life Information Network, Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Reviews. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Plymouth 2007.