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This is a polynoidae which include many species of short and flat marine worms found all over the world.
They’re characterised by scales that cover their bodies called elytra, and while little is known about their eating habits, researchers have suggested that they’re active hunters, which is good news for pretty much no one. And here’s the best bit.. . . . The part that looks like a head with no eyes is actually a retractable proboscis which is a tubular sucking mouthpart that the scale worm usually turns inside-out and folds up into its body.
Like an actual Xenomorph, when it’s ready to feed, it unfurls this appendage and tears apart its prey with its sharp mouthparts.
These tiny carnivores feed on small prey such as crustaceans, echinderms, other polychaetes, and snails. They also feed on sponges. Yours is a , Lepidonotus melanogrammus. This scale worm is very often seen crawling over the Banded Brittle Star (Ophionereis schayeri), but the nature of the association between the two species is unknown. Both the brittle star and the scale worm can also often be found by themselves.
They’re characterised by scales that cover their bodies called elytra, and while little is known about their eating habits, researchers have suggested that they’re active hunters, which is good news for pretty much no one. And here’s the best bit.. . . . The part that looks like a head with no eyes is actually a retractable proboscis which is a tubular sucking mouthpart that the scale worm usually turns inside-out and folds up into its body.
Like an actual Xenomorph, when it’s ready to feed, it unfurls this appendage and tears apart its prey with its sharp mouthparts.
These tiny carnivores feed on small prey such as crustaceans, echinderms, other polychaetes, and snails. They also feed on sponges. Yours is a , Lepidonotus melanogrammus. This scale worm is very often seen crawling over the Banded Brittle Star (Ophionereis schayeri), but the nature of the association between the two species is unknown. Both the brittle star and the scale worm can also often be found by themselves.