''Convolutriloba retrogemma'' is a reddish-brown

acoel Acoela, or the acoels, is an order of small and simple invertebrates in the subphylum Acoelomorpha of phylum Xenacoelomorpha, a deep branching bilaterian group of animals, which resemble flatworms. Historically they were treated as an order of ...

2 mm in length also commonly known as redbug, red planaria, rust flatworm, or simply red flatworm. It is a marine animal that gets energy from its endosymbiotic algae or from the consumption of small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s such as

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s and

rotifer The rotifers (, from Latin 'wheel' and 'bearing'), sometimes called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera ) of microscopic and near-microscopic Coelom#Pseudocoelomates, pseudocoelomate animals. They were first describ ...

s. Like some other acoels, it is known to starve coral of sunlight while searching for food on the corals' surface due to its rapid

reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: Asexual reproduction, asexual and Sexual ...

. ''C. retrogemma'', like many other acoels, contains dangerous toxins to keep it predators away, and, on death, it can release these

toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. They occur especially as proteins, often conjugated. The term was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–1919), derived ...

s. This is harmful to nearby life such as

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

and

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, and even people if infected fish are consumed.

Reproduction

''Convolutriloba retrogemma'' reproduce quickly either sexually by laying eggs or asexually by using

budding Budding or blastogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. For example, the small bulb-like projection coming out from the yeast cell is kno ...

and

binary fission Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two values (0 and 1) for each digit * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical o ...

, where it splits up and makes a bud that will create a new worm, or by using fragmentation, where it forms new parent organisms from fragments of one original parent organism.

Distribution

It is found globally, but originates from Cuba. Due to their reproduction techniques they can be a plague to aquariums and fish tanks, as they are very harmful, unsightly, and difficult to remove without harming other life nearby.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3085398 Convolutidae Fauna of the Caribbean Fauna of Cuba Fauna of the Dominican Republic Marine fauna of North America Animals described in 1988