Symsagittifera roscoffensis
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Symsagittifera roscoffensis |
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Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
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Symsagittifera roscoffensis, formerly called Convoluta roscoffensis, is a free-living acoelomorph worm.
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[edit] Appearance
Symsagittifera roscoffensis is a small (about 15 mm long) flat worm. Due to the algae, Platymonas convolutae which it assimilates into its body cavity, it has green colour.
[edit] Ecology and distribution
In its adult stage, the worm lives off the excesses of its symbiotic algae, (Platymonas convolutae), although the mouth is still present posteriorly to the statocyst. The worm provides shelter and some nutritional benefits in return.
The worm can be found in sheltered sand beaches on the southern coast of the English Channel.
[edit] Significance to humans
Symsagittifera roscoffensis is one of the model organisms for studying the development of bilaterians.