Biodiversity & Conservation

A spoon worm - Amalosoma eddystonense

Amalosoma eddystonense

Image Lin Baldock - Amalosoma eddystonense proboscis sticking out of the sand.
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Distribution map

Amalosoma eddystonense recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Amalosoma eddystonense is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Echiura Spoon worms
Class Echiuroidea
Authority Stephen, 1956
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Reported from northwest Scotland and Orkney, one site in Cardigan Bay, west Wales, and off the south coast of Devon.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Present in burrows in mud, coarse sand or shell gravel down to a depth of 50 m.
Text page icon Description An unsegmented, sausage-shaped worm, up to 15cm long, 2.5cm in width and greenish in colour. At the anterior end it has a long, mobile proboscis which may be retracted into the body. Male worms are up to 2mm long and parasitic on the females.
Identifying features
  • A stout, unsegmented worm up to 15cm long and 2.5cm in width.
  • Greenish in colour.
  • Long, soft proboscis extending from anterior end.
Additional information icon Additional information

This review can be cited as follows:

Penny Avant 2008. Amalosoma eddystonense. A spoon worm. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 09/02/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2475>