Eupolymnia crasscornis is a tropical species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of annelid

Annelid

The annelids , formally called Annelida , are a large phylum of segmented worms, with over 17,000 modern species including ragworms, earthworms and leeches...

. The worms are commonly known as spaghetti worms and can be found mainly in the Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

n waters near the Florida Keys

Florida Keys

The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...

 and Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

. They can be found at bottoms of oceans near to the rocks and sand. They bury themselves deep into sand creating a tube-like structure and stick their tentacles out of their holes.

Diet

Eupolymnia crasscornis are deposit feeders that primarily feed at night. They extend their ciliated tentacles out and along the sea-floor to gather dead organic matter (detritus) that originated as diatoms and other planktonic microorganisms. The collected detritus is then passed along a groove in their tentacles to their mouth to be consumed.

External

Spaghetti worms have tentacles that extend outside their burrow for a considerable distance. The bodies of spaghetti worms are segmented. The tentacles can grow over one meter long. The tentacles are used to wrap around their prey and bring it closer to the mouth. Eupolymnia crasscornis also has inner and outer lips for food gathering. They have adopted this way of life to protect their bodies from predators

Predation

In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey . Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption...

 like gastropods and fish. They also share their burrow/home with other creatures such as the tube pea crab Pinnixa chaetopterana

Pinnixa chaetopterana

Pinnixa chaetopterana, the tube pea crab, is a small decapod crustacean that lives harmlessly within the tube of the polychaete worm, Chaetopterus variopedatus.-Description:...

 which they also use for protection. Spaghetti worms use three pairs of branched gills for breathing

Breathing

Breathing is the process that moves air in and out of the lungs. Aerobic organisms require oxygen to release energy via respiration, in the form of the metabolism of energy-rich molecules such as glucose. Breathing is only one process that delivers oxygen to where it is needed in the body and...

.

Internal

Spaghetti worms have well-developed gut consisting of an oesophagus, fore-stomach

Stomach

The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...

, closed circulatory system, hind-stomach and intestine

Intestine

In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...

, and use enzymes to help carry out digestion

Digestion

Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into smaller components that are more easily absorbed into a blood stream, for instance. Digestion is a form of catabolism: a breakdown of large food molecules to smaller ones....

.

Reproduction

Spaghetti worms reproduce externally. They have lecithotropic larvae. Unusually, both males and females have been observed to release gametes even when the other sex was not in the vicinity.