CLASSIFICATION OF SERPULA
PHYLUM :- ANNELIDA (Metamerically segmented, coelomate and laterally symmetrical. )
CLASS :- POLYCHAETA (Many setae, clitellum absent. )
ORDER :- SEDENTARIA (Tubicolous, sedentary and proboscis not-protrusible, without jaws or teeth.)
GENUS :- Serpula
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
It is found in Europe and U.S.A.
HABIT AND HABITAT
Serpula lives in a hard, shelly, calcareous and twisted tube, attached to shells and other marine objects. Several animals live together.
GENERAL CHARACTERSTICS OF SERPULA
- Body is elongated and cylindrical but contractile.
- Anterior end forms head consisting of prostomium and peristomium.
- Posterior end remains attached with mass of calcareous tubes.
- Prostomium contains a pair of incomplete circlets of feathered gills or branchian which are elongated and pinnately branched.
- Gills are modified palps, sometimes supported by cartilaginous skeleton and are richly supplied with blood and besides respiration serve to collect microscopic food particles.
- Each gill consists of an elongated branch, having two rows of short filaments.
- Tip of one of the dorsal filaments enlarges to form stopper or operculum, often armed with plates and spines for the closure of the tube in which the annelid lives.
- Peristome is extended forward as paired membrane to form a collar which is employed in smoothing the inside of the shell. operculum
- Nephridia of posterior segments act as genital ducts.
IDENTIFICATION
The animal contains a pair of feathered gill and all above characters, hence it is Serpula.
