PHYLUM

NEMERTEA
( A C O E LO M AT E
B I L AT E R A L A N I M A L )
 PHYLUM NEMERTEA (RHYNCHOCOELA)
• Gr. Nemertes, one of the Nereids, unerring
one
• often called ribbon worms
• name refers to the unerring aim of the
proboscis, a long muscular tube (Figures 14-23
and 14-24)
• also called Rhynchocoela (Gr. rhynchos,
beak, + koilos, hollow), which also refers to the
proboscis
• cylindrical anteriorly and flattened
posteriorly
• thread-shaped or ribbon-shaped worms;
nearly all are marine
• some live in secreted gelatinous tubes
• about 650 species
• usually less than 20 cm long
• often bright Figure 14-23
Amphiporus bimaculatus Figure 14-24
 Figure 14-25
Lineus longissimus (30 m)

Figure 14-26
Pilidium larva
• helmet-shaped larva that has a
ventral mouth but no anus Figure 14-27
FORM AND FUNCTION
• slender and very fragile
• body wall consists of an epidermis of ciliated
columnar cells and layers of circular and
longitudinal muscles (Figure 14-27A)
• parenchyma fills the space around the visceral organs;
Ocelli are located at the anterior end; thicklipped mouth
is anteroventral, with the opening of the proboscis just
above it
• proboscis is an eversible organ that can be protruded
from its cavity, the rhynchocoel, and used for defense
and catching prey (Figure 14- 24)
• rhynchocoel is filled with fluid, and by muscular pressure
on this fluid the anterior part of the tubular proboscis is
everted, or turned inside out
• proboscis apparatus is an invagination of the anterior
body wall, and its structure therefore duplicates that of
the body wall
• retractor muscles attached at the end are used to
retract the everted proboscis, much like inverting the tip
of a finger of a glove by a string attached inside at its tip;
proboscis is armed with a sharp-pointed stylet;
frontal gland also opens at the anterior end by a pore
• Locomotion- move with considerable speed by the combined action of their musculature and cilia
• Feeding and Digestion- carnivorous and voracious, and its digestion is largely extracellular in the
intestinal tube, and when the food is ready for absorption, it passes through the cellular lining of the intestinal
tract into the blood-vascular system (Figure 14-24B)
• Circulation- blood-vascular system is simple and enclosed with a single dorsal vessel and two lateral
vessels (Figure 14-27B)
• Excretion and Respiration- excretory system contains a pair of lateral tubes with many branches and
flame cells (Figure 14-27B) and respiration occurs through the body surface
• Nervous system- includes a brain composed of four fused
ganglia, one pair dorsal and one pair ventral, united by
commissures (connecting nerves)
• Reproduction and Development- gonads in either sex
lie between the intestinal ceca (Figure 14-24); from each
gonad a short duct (gonopore) runs to the dorsolateral
body surface; eggs and sperm are discharged into the water,
where fertilization occurs; egg production in females
is usually accompanied by degeneration of the other
visceral organs
-have a spiral, determinate cleavage (mesoderm is
derived partly from the endoderm and partly from the
ectoderm); rhyncocoel develops as a cavity in the
mesoderm and is a coelomic cavity
-pilidium larva (Figure 14-26) develops, which bears a
dorsal spike of fused cilia and a pair of lateral lobes, and
covered with cilia and has a mouth and alimentary canal
but no anus.
• Regeneration- great powers of regeneration; some of
them fragment by autotomy, and from each fragment a
new individual develops
 CHARACTERISTICS
• three germ layers; epidermis has cilia and gland cells
• body spaces with parenchyma, which is partly
gelatinous
• an eversible proboscis, which lies free in a cavity
(rhynchocoel) above the alimentary canal CLASSIFICATION
• complete digestive system (mouth to anus); • Class Enopla (Gr. enoplos, armed).
blood-vascular system with two or three Proboscis usually armed with stylets; mouth
longitudinal trunks; nervous system usually a
opens in front of brain
four-lobed brain; excretory system of two
coiled canals, which are branched with flame cells; • Class Anopla (Gr. anoplos, unarmed).
no respiratory system Proboscis lacks stylets; mouth opens below
• sexes separate with simple gonads; asexual or posterior to brain
reproduction by fragmentation; few
hermaphrodites; pilidium larvae in some
• sensory ciliated pits or head slits on each side of
head, which communicate between the outside and
the brain
• few are parasitic