''Emplectonema neesii'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

of ribbon worm in the

phylum In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclatu ...

Nemertea Nemertea is a phylum of animals also known as ribbon worms or proboscis worms, consisting of 1300 known species. Most ribbon worms are very slim, usually only a few millimeters wide, although a few have relatively short but wide bodies. Many h ...

. It is found on the middle and lower regions of the shore, under stones and in shingle and is common round the coasts of Britain and Ireland.

Description

Like other ribbon worms, this species is not divided into segments but is long, thin and contractile. It is usually ten to fifteen centimetres long but can extend to thirty centimetres. The head is bluntly pointed and has a slit at the front. It bears many eyes, usually in two groups, but these are hard to see because of the worm’s colouring and texture. There is an extensible proboscis above the mouth. The head is delineated by a pale streak where it joins the body. The dorsal surface of the body is rounded and brown with longitudinal streaks and a faint iridescence. The ventral surface is off white and flattened.John Barrett and C M Young, Collins Pocket Guide to the Sea Shore (1958) p.48

Distribution and habitat

''Emplectonema neesii'' is restricted to the Atlantic,

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

and

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coasts of Europe. It occurs from

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

. It is found in the

littoral zone The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal ...

and at a depth of up to thirty metres. It is usually beneath stones and boulders, in rock crevices and fissures, among the holdfasts of

Laminaria ''Laminaria'' is a genus of brown seaweed in the order Laminariales (kelp), comprising 31 species native to the north Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans. This economically important genus is characterized by long, leathery laminae and relat ...

, among the byssus threads of Mytilus colonies or on a variety of soft substrates including sand, silty-sand, shelly-gravel and shingle.Marine Species Identification Portal
/ref>

Biology

When disturbed, this worm tends to curl up, writhe and wriggle. Movement is performed by small waves of muscular contraction that flow along the body from tail to head. Several waves may occur simultaneously and the worm glides forward slowly and smoothly, the swellings running evenly along the body. It is carnivorous, being both a

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

and a

scavenger Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding b ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2047879 Monostilifera