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Myxicola aesthetica (Claparède, 1870)

Tiny sand worm

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Myxicola aesthetica

Etang de Thau, France, 7 meters, 2020, WBN

Myxicola aesthetica

Etang de Thau, France, 3 meters, 2015, WBN

Myxicola aesthetica

Etang de Thau, France, 3 meters, 2015, WBN

Description

Myxicola aesthetica is a small, sedentary annelid that measures 15 to 40 mm in length and reaches 3 mm in diameter. It lives in a mucous tube that barely protrudes from the substrate. Its funnel-shaped gill plume is beige to purplish brown in color. It consists of 2 semicircular branchial lobes each provided with 5 to 10 filaments. This panache only comes out of its tube a little. The body completely protected by the tube has 20 to 50 setiger including 1 to 4 thoracic. Very sensitive, the small hagfish quickly sinks into its tube in case of danger. Myxicola aesthetica usually lives in more or less dense groups, sometimes the tubes attached to each other form a base gelatinous from which the small gill panache emerge.

Similar to

This species is easily distinguished from Myxicola infundibulum by its very small size and its generally rocky habitat.

Distribution

Myxicola aesthetica lives among empty shells and in rock crevices in the English Channel, Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Classification

Source : World Register of Marine Species
Dernière mise à jour 05-02-2023

Animalia (Kingdom)
Annelida (Phylum)
Polychaeta (Class)
Sedentaria (Subclass)
Canalipalpata (Infraclass)
Sabellida (Order)
Sabellidae (Family)
Myxicolinae (Subfamily)
Myxicolini (Tribe)
Myxicola (Genus)
Myxicola aesthetica (Species)

Authors

Text : Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat © 2021 - 2024.

Photos : © Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with his kind permission.
Websites and reference works : Consult bibliography

Image satellite: © Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community.

Données de distribution : Myxicola aesthetica (Claparède, 1870) in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-11.

Guide des Tuniciers

Classification

Source : World Register of Marine Species


Dernière mise à jour 05-02-2023

Animalia (Kingdom)
Annelida (Phylum)
Polychaeta (Class)
Sedentaria (Subclass)
Canalipalpata (Infraclass)
Sabellida (Order)
Sabellidae (Family)
Myxicolinae (Subfamily)
Myxicolini (Tribe)
Myxicola (Genus)
Myxicola aesthetica (Species)

Guide des Tuniciers

Authors

Text : Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat © 2021 - 2024.

Photos : © Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with his kind permission.
Websites and reference works : Consult bibliography

How to cite this page

Bay-Nouailhat W., Novembre 2021, Description of Myxicola aesthetica, [On line] https://european-marine-life.org/16/myxicola-aesthetica.php, consulted on 2024 December 11.

Author

Photographie de Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat

Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat

Diver - Naturalist
Underwater Photographer

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