Siboglinidae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iSiboglinidae
Riftia pachyptila
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Polychaeta
Family: Siboglinidae
Caullery, 1914
Genera

Birsteinia
Choanophorus
Cyclobrachia
Lamellibrachia
Lamellisabella
Osedax
Paraescarpia
Ridgeia
Riftia
Siboglinoides
Siboglinum
Volvobrachia
...

Siboglinidae is a family of annelid worms whose members made up the former phyla Pogonophora and Vestimentifera. They are a small group of deep sea tube worms often found growing around deep sea volcanic vents. The rear of the body is segmented. They completely lose their digestive tract during metamorphosis and feed primarily on symbiotic hydrogen sulifde- or methane-oxidizing bacteria living in an internal organ, the trophosome. The first specimen was dredged from the waters of what is now Indonesia in 1900.