Polydora (annelid)

Polydora (annelid)
Polydora ciliata (above)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Polychaeta
Subclass: Sedentaria
Infraclass: Canalipalpata
Order: Spionida
Family: Spionidae
Genus: Polydora

Polydora is a genus of annelid worms.[1] It contains marine polychaete species that live in mud, holes bored in rocks, and holes bored in the shells of shellfish.[2][3]

Characteristic double "sunglasses" holes left by Polydora ciliata burrowing in rock.

Some shell-[4] and rock-boring polydora worms leave a characteristic double hole in the rock and shells in which they burrow.

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek Πολυδωρη, from Polydora , daughter of Tethys and Ocean in Greek mythology.[5]

Economic effects

Polydora species are a major economic issue for parts of the shellfish industry.[6] Some species cause "mudblister" on oysters, living inside the oyster shell and roughening its interior surface. Although this makes the oyster grow much more slowly, and makes the shell ugly and harder to sell, the meat of the oyster is still fit to eat.[7]

List of Polydora species

On other projects

Wikispecies has information related to: Polydora
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Polydora.

External links

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.