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Polychaete

Megasyllis nipponica

Classification

Family
Syllidae

Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia which bear many chitinous bristles called chaetae, hence their name. More than 10,000 species have been described in this diverse and widespread class; in addition to inhabiting all of the world's oceans, polychaetes occur at all ocean depths, from planktonic species living near the surface, to a small undescribed species observed through ROV at the deepest region in the Earth's oceans, Challenger Deep.

Distribution

(c) Lisa Biasillo, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY
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Countries in the Picchu catalog
United States of America · 66