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Information about Clam Worm

Clam worm

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Annelida
Class:Polychaeta
Order:Phyllodocida
Family:Nereididae
Genus:Nereis
Species:N. succinea
Binomial name
Nereis succinea
(Frey & Leuchart, 1847)


The Common clam worm (Nereis succinea) is a widely distributed polychaete worm. It is often referred to as a ragworm or sandworm, or simply as the "clam worm", but these terms can all refer to any one of a number of other species of the genus Nereis (or indeed to other polychaetes). The name "common clam worm" is less ambiguous, but is also sometimes used for other Neries species such as N. virens and N. limbata.

The common clam worm can reach up to 15 centimeters (6 inches) in length, but most specimens are smaller than this. It is brown coloured at the rear, and reddish-brown on the rest of its body. It has an identifiable head with four eyes, two sensory feelers or palps, and eight tentacles.

It is a freeswimming polychaete, scavenging on the bottom of shallow marine waters. It feeds on other worms and algae. To feed, it uses a proboscis, which has two hooks at the end, to grasp prey and draw it into its mouth. Clamworms are an important food source for bottom-feeding fish and crustaceans, though they can protect themselves by secreting a mucus substance that hardens to form a sheath around them.

During lunar phases in the spring and early summer, the clam worm undergoes "heteronenesis". Their parapodia enlarge so they can swim. The clamworms are then capable of releasing eggs and sperm. After they have released their egg or sperm, they die.

Planktonic larvae develop, grow into annelids and eventually sink to the bottom of the water.
Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Annelida
Lamarck, 1809

Classes and subclasses

Class Polychaeta (paraphyletic?)
Class Clitellata*
   Oligochaeta - earthworms, etc.
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Polychaeta
Grube, 1850

Subclasses
Palpata
Scolecida

The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine.
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Nereidae
Fauchald 1977

Genera

Nereis
Platynereis
Namalycastis
Namanereis
Eunereis
Hediste
Neanthes
Perinereis
Australonereis
Laeonereis
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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Heinrich Frey (June 15, 1822–January 17, 1890) was a German-born Swiss entomologist who studied Lepidoptera. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and died in Zurich, Switzerland.
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Polychaeta
Grube, 1850

Subclasses
Palpata
Scolecida

The Polychaeta or polychaetes are a class of annelid worms, generally marine.
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Ragworms are true worms (annilidae) and are like all true worms segmented. A ragworm is a polychaete worm of the genus Nereis or the family Nereidae. Ragworms are often used as fishing bait, especially the North Atlantic species Nereis diversicolor.
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Sandworm may refer to:
  • Sandworm (Dune), a fictional desert-dwelling creature from the science fiction series Dune
  • Sandworm (UK), a large marine worm
  • Sandworm (US), a polychaete worm of the family Nereidae

See also


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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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Pedipalps, the second pair of appendages of the cephalothorax in Arachnida, is homologous with mandibles in Crustacea, and corresponding to the mandibles of insects. The pedipalps are appendages of six segments: the coxae, a single trochanter, the femur, a short patella, the tibia,
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crustaceans (Crustacea) are a large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species [1], and are usually treated as a subphylum [2].
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Parapodia (Gr. para, beyond or beside + podia, feet), singular parapodium, are paired un-jointed lateral outgrowths. They are characteristic of Polychaeta, but they also occur in opisthobranch mollusks.

Parapodia are either uniramous or biramous.
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Plankton are any drifting organism that inhabits the pelagic zone of oceans, seas, or bodies of fresh water. It is a description of life-style rather than a genetic classification.
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Herod_Archelaus


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