Annelid: Phylum of segmented worms
Annelids are a phylum of invertebrate worms.
They are the segmented worms, with over 17,000 known species.
| annelids | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Glycera sp. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Superphylum: | |
| Phylum: | Annelida Lamarck, 1809 |
| Classes and subclasses | |
| Class Polychaeta (paraphyletic?) | |
Well known species are earthworms and leeches. Annelids can be found in most wet environments. Some of these species are parasitic or mutualistic. This means they live together with (or inside) another organism. A mutualistic relationship is beneficial to both organisms. Their size varies from under a millimetre to about 3 metres. The largest known species is the seep tube worm (Lamellibrachia lymnesi), which is related to the giant tube worm.
Annelids are made of one or more body segments. Each segment has one or more rings. These rings are called annuli (singular: 'annulus' = 'little ring'). Annelids reproduce sexually by hermaphroditic cross-fertilization. They can regenerate cut off pieces of their body, unlike sponges, which can come back together if ripped apart. They have a hydrostatic skeleton, a one-way digestion system, and bilateral symmetry.
Nervous system
Annelid worms have a nervous system. The brain forms a ring round the pharynx (throat), consisting of a pair of ganglia (local control centers) above and in front of the pharynx, linked by nerve cords either side of the pharynx to another pair of ganglia just below and behind it. In some very mobile and active polychaetes the brain is enlarged and more complex, with visible hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain sections.
The rest of the central nervous system is usually 'ladder-like', with a pair of nerve cords that run along the bottom part of the body cavity. In each segment there are paired ganglia linked by a cross-connection. From each segmental ganglion a branching system of local nerves runs into the body wall and then encircles the body.
Main groups
- Polychaetes: about 12,000 species, free-living
- Clitellates: about 5,000 species
- Echiura
References
This article uses material from the Wikipedia Simple English article Annelid, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
®Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wiki Foundation, Inc. Wiki Simple English (DUHOCTRUNGQUOC.VN) is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wiki Foundation.