Cirratulidae is a
family of marine
polychaete worms. Members of the family are found worldwide, mostly living in mud or rock crevices.
[Marine Species Identification Portal]
/ref> Most are deposit feeders
Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders, or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). There are many kinds of invertebrates, ...
, but some graze on algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
or are suspension feeders.[
]
Description
Cirratulids vary in size from one to twenty centimetres long. They are mostly burrowers in soft sediments but some live in rock crevices. The head is conical or wedge-shaped and has no antennae. The body is generally cylindrical, tapering at both ends. Cirratulids are characterised by a large number of simple elongate filaments along the body. Some of these occur as an anterior cluster of tentacles, grooved for deposit-feeding, but the majority, the branchiae, are found one pair per segment, and do not have grooves. The chaetae (bristles) are simple capillaries, usually with hooks, and emerge directly from the body wall. There are no anal cirri (slender sensory appendages). The worm is usually buried with only the writhing branchial filaments visible.[ Some cirratulids can build tubes of calcium carbonate.]Terebellidae
The Terebellidae is a marine family of polychaete worms, of which the type taxon is ''Terebella'', described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of ''Systema Naturae''.
Characteristics
Most terebellids live in burrows or crevices and ar ...
and other worm families may superficially look similar to cirratulids with a mass of filaments. However, in terebellids, the filaments arise from the mouth or are restricted to the anterior three segments, whereas cirratulid branchiae occur throughout the body, one pair per segment.Polychaetes:Cirratulidae
Taxonomy
The genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
are poorly defined and Blake undertook a partial revision in 1996. He divided them into three groups, the multi-tentaculate genera such as ''Cirratulus'' and ''Cirriformia'', the bi-tentaculate soft-substrate genera such as ''Caulleriella'', ''Chaetozone'', ''Tharyx'' and the bi-tentaculate hard substrate genera such as ''Dodecaceria''.[Blake, J.A. (1996). Family Cirratulidae Ryckholdt, 1851. pp. 263-384 in Blake, J.A., Hilbig, B. & Scott, P.H. (eds) The Annelida. Part 3 Polychaeta: Orbiniidae to Cossuridae. Vol. 6. Taxonomic Atlas of the Benthic Fauna of the Santa Maria Basin and western Santa Barbara Channel. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History : Santa Barbara, California]
There is considerable confusion as to the phylogenetic relationships in the family and Blake suggests that many species with global distributions will be found to represent species complexes within which some species are presently undescribed.[
]
Genera
* ''Ambo
Ambo may refer to:
Places
* Ambo, Kiribati
* Ambo Province, Huanuco Region, Peru
** Ambo District
** Ambo, Peru, capital of Ambo District
* Ambo Town, a town in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia
** Ambo, Ethiopia, a capital of West Shewa Zone ...
''
* ''Aphelochaeta
Aphelochaeta is a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and belo ...
'' Blake, 1991
* '' Caulleriella'' Chamberlin, 1919
* '' Chaetozone'' Malmgren, 1867
* '' Cirratulispio''
* ''Cirratulus
''Cirratulus'' is a genus of annelids belonging to the family Cirratulidae
Cirratulidae is a family of marine polychaete worms. Members of the family are found worldwide, mostly living in mud or rock crevices. Most are deposit feeders, but some ...
'' Lamarck, 1801
* '' Cirrhatula''
* '' Cirrhatulus''
* ''Cirriformia
''Cirriformia'' is a genus of marine polychaete worms in the family Cirratulidae.
Species
The following species are classified in this genus:
*'' Cirriformia afer'' (Ehlers, 1908)
*''Cirriformia capensis'' (Schmarda, 1861)
*'' Cirriformia capil ...
'' Hartman, 1936
* ''Dodecaceria
Dodecaceria is a genus of marine polychaete worms in the family Cirratulidae.
The genus contains bioluminescent species.
Species
The following species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of a ...
'' Örsted, 1843
* '' Heterocirrus'' Grube, 1855
* ''Labranda
Labraunda ( grc, Λάβρανδα ''Labranda'' or Λάβραυνδα ''Labraunda'') is an ancient archaeological site five kilometers west of Ortaköy, Muğla Province, Turkey, in the mountains near the coast of Caria. In ancient times, it was h ...
''
* '' Monticellina'' Laubier, 1961
* '' Naraganseta''
* '' Pentacirrus''
* '' Promenia''
* '' Protocirrineris'' Czerniavsky, 1881
* '' Pseudocirratulus''
* '' Tharyx'' Webster & Benedict, 1887
* ''Timarete
Timarete ( el, Τιμαρέτη) (or Thamyris, Tamaris, Thamar; 5th century BC), was an ancient Greek painter.
She was the daughter of the painter Micon the Younger of Athens. According to Pliny the Elder, she "scorned the duties of women and pr ...
'' Kinberg, 1866
* '' Audouina'' Hartman, 1936
* ''Audouinia
''Audouinia'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Bruniaceae
Bruniaceae is a family of shrubs native to the cape region of South Africa. They are mostly restricted to the Cape Province, but a small number of species occur in ...
'' Quatrefages, 1865
* '' Cirrineris'' misspelling of ''Cirrhineris'' Blainville, 1828
* '' Cirrhineris'' Blainville, 1828 (nomen dubium)
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3553827
Terebellida
Annelid families