polychaete
- noun
- /ˈpɒlɪˌkiːt/
- Specialized
:
poliqueto
- Errant polychaetes such as scale, sand, and blood worms can be nudged from hiding places.
- polychaete worms
Examples
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Infauna, the organisms living within sediments such as polychaete worms or shrimp-like crustaceans, are usually denser than those in the water column because surrounding sediments remove the problem of avoiding sinking.
Academic text (2000) -
Oysters provided cover for hard clams, crabs, polychaetes, and others.
Academic text (1990) -
Most marine worms are polychaetes, also known as bristleworms.
Blog text (17) -
When fishermen dug hard clams with hand rakes, they lifted some polychaetes and other invertebrates out of the bottom.
Academic text (1990) -
Bristled polychaete worms insinuated themselves in this living terrain, and sometimes entered the siphons of sponges and tunicates.
Academic text (1992) -
The first wave of multicellular organisms that cement themselves to the crab's shell typically includes barnacles, delicate encrusting bryozoans, and tube-forming polychaete worms.
Academic text (2002) -
Over 65%, by weight, of the yellowfin sole stomach contents collected during the summers of 1970 and 1971 consisted of polychaetes, bivalves, amphipods, and echiurids.
Academic text (1992) -
Most marine worms are polychaetes, also known as bristleworms.
-
When fishermen dug hard clams with hand rakes, they lifted some polychaetes and other invertebrates out of the bottom.
-
Errant polychaetes such as scale, sand, and blood worms can be nudged from hiding places.
Synonyms
A sea worm with many body segments and small bristles on each segment
A sea worm with many bristles and paired side appendages
A worm that lives in the sea with many small bristles on its sides that help it move
Sea worms with many body segments and bristles on most segments
Compounds
- Specialized
A sea worm with many body segments and small bristles on each segment
Surface Forms
Morphology
polychaete = chaeta (semi-transparent) = poly + chaete
The word is built from poly- 'many' plus the technical bristle root chaet-/chaeta, but the zoological term is specialized and not obvious to many learners.
Etymology
Polychaete comes from Greek parts poly- 'many' and chaete 'bristle'. So a polychaete is literally a 'many-bristled' sea worm, which explains the rows of bristle-like legs it uses to move.
