Fixed Marine Worms (Order Sedentaria) are a group of marine worms in the Polychaeta Class that bury themselves in the floor of the ocean or live in a tube. The burying species feed upon the mud at the bottom. The tube worms attach themselves to corals and rocks and filter their food from the sea. These tube worms sometimes have very large and brightly colored tufts of gills that wave in the currents. Upon the slightest hint of danger, these gills can be quickly withdrawn, and the worm disappears.

Marine Worms (Polychaeta Class) contains about 6,000 aquatic species of segmented worms, most of which are marine animals. Some species have colorful arrays of gills that wave in the water and can be retracted quickly when danger is near.

Class Polychaeta is divided into two major and one minor order as follows:

Order Errantia - Free-swimming marine
Order Sedentaria - Non-mobile marine
Order Archiamelida* - Non-bristly marine

The last order, Archiamelida, can be treated as a separate class in the Segmented Worms Phylum (Annelida).

Segmented Worms (Phylum Annelida) are found both in marine and terrestrial situations. Three of the classes are:

Polychaeta Class - Marine species - (6,000 species)
Oligochaeta Class - Earthworms - (3,000 species)
Hirundinea Class - Leeches - (300 species)

There has been considerable revision of this group of life forms, but we include ancient text as it might be of interest.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

NEW SEARCH