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World Polychaeta Database
Citation
Read, G.; Fauchald, K. (Ed.) (2024). World Polychaeta Database. Accessed at https://www.marinespecies.org/polychaeta on yyyy-mm-dd. https://marineinfo.org/id/dataset/3114
Contact:
Read, Geoffrey
Availability: This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
A world checklist of Polychaeta, compiled by taxonomic experts and based on peer-reviewed literature. more
Polychaetes are multi-segmented worms living in all environments in the world's oceans, present from abyssal depths to shallow estuaries and rocky shores, and even free swimming in open water. They are strictly aquatic annelids, but are the most abundant and diverse group of Phylum Annelida. Notably successful in mud and sand habitats, their densities there often exceed those of the sediment-dwelling molluscs and crustaceans alongside them. Polychaetes have soft bodies usually at most only a few centimetres long and pencil-thick, and they move relatively slowly, aided on each segment by the retractable grip of four dense clusters of bristles and hooks called chaetae, thus the name 'polychaete'.
Polychaetes are multi-segmented worms living in all environments in the world's oceans, present from abyssal depths to shallow estuaries and rocky shores, and even free swimming in open water. They are strictly aquatic annelids, but are the most abundant and diverse group of Phylum Annelida. Notably successful in mud and sand habitats, their densities there often exceed those of the sediment-dwelling molluscs and crustaceans alongside them. Polychaetes have soft bodies usually at most only a few centimetres long and pencil-thick, and they move relatively slowly, aided on each segment by the retractable grip of four dense clusters of bristles and hooks called chaetae, thus the name 'polychaete'.
Each of the over 80 families living today have characteristic body shapes and chaetal types. The families include for example centipede-like free-living crawlers like the nereidids and phyllodocids, colonial reef-building static forms with fans of head tentacles like the serpulids and sabellariids, flattened worms protected with shield-like dorsal scales like the polynoids, and predatory swimming worms with giant eyes like the alciopids. There are polychaetes specialised in many other unique ways, including in the ways they reproduce. Notably most Syllidae, Nereididae, and some Eunicidae (Palolo worms) metamorphose to become night-time swimmers to meet their mates, with timing of swarmings synchronised with the phases of the moon.
Scope
Themes:
Biology, Biology > Ecology - biodiversity, Biology > Invertebrates
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, Fresh water, Brackish water, Classification, Marine invertebrates, Species, Taxonomy, World Waters, Polychaeta
Geographical coverage
World Waters [Marine Regions]
Temporal coverage
From 1758 on [In Progress]
Taxonomic coverage
Polychaeta [WoRMS]
Parameters
Taxonomy
Contributors
Read, Geoffrey, data manager, data creator, taxonomic editor
Fauchald, Kristian, data creator, taxonomic editor
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), more, database developer
Bieler, Rüdiger, taxonomic editor
Ferreira Gil, João Carlos, taxonomic editor
Glasby, Christopher, taxonomic editor
Glover, Adrian G., taxonomic editor
Gonzalez, Brett C., taxonomic editor
Kupriyanova, Elena, taxonomic editor
Reuscher, Michael, taxonomic editor
ten Hove, Harry, taxonomic editor
Wilson, Robin, taxonomic editor
Zanol, Joana, taxonomic editor
Related datasets
Published in:
WoRMS: World Register of Marine Species, more
Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Literature research
Metadatarecord created: 2012-07-16
Information last updated: 2024-01-18