A bristleworm (Scoletoma tetraura)
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Distribution data supplied by the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS). To interrogate UK data visit the NBN Atlas.Map Help
| Researched by | Karen Riley | Refereed by | Admin |
| Authority | (Schmarda, 1861) | ||
| Other common names | - | Synonyms | Lumbrineris impatiens (Claparède, 1868), Lumbrineris tetraura (Schmarda, 1861) |
Summary
Description
Scoletoma tetraura is a large polychaete growing up to 40 cm in length. The species is iridescent pale pink or red in colour and possesses yellow acicula. It has an elongated body and is worm like in appearance.
Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland
Recorded from scattered locations around the coast of Britain.Global distribution
-Habitat
Scoletoma tetraura occurs from low water to considerable depths. It occupies a variety of substrata including clean or slightly muddy sand, shell gravel and algal holdfasts.Depth range
-Identifying features
- Iridescent pale pink or red in colour
- Up to 40 cm in length
- 500 or more segments
- No gills present
- Yellow acicula
- Curved, bladed simple chaetae in first 40-80 segments
- Four short anal cirri
- No jointed crochets
- Simple crochets lacking from first 5 chaetigers
Additional information
-none-Listed by
- none -
Bibliography
Hayward, P.J. & Ryland, J.S. (ed.) 1995b. Handbook of the marine fauna of North-West Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Howson, C.M. & Picton, B.E., 1997. The species directory of the marine fauna and flora of the British Isles and surrounding seas. Belfast: Ulster Museum. [Ulster Museum publication, no. 276.]
Datasets
NBN (National Biodiversity Network) Atlas. Available from: https://www.nbnatlas.org.
OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System), 2025. Global map of species distribution using gridded data. Available from: Ocean Biogeographic Information System. www.iobis.org. Accessed: 2025-05-02
Citation
This review can be cited as:
Last Updated: 06/01/2003
