Echiura biography, Echiura discography
Echiurans were included in the Annelida
until recently, and they are still considered close relatives of the annelids.Both echiurans and annelids are
classified together within a larger group, the Trochozoa.In English,
echiurans are referred to as "spoon worms" (when referred to at all).Although there are only about 150 species of echiurans known today, they
are quite common in some marine environments.Urechis is known as the "innkeeper worm" because a number of
marine organisms, including small crabs,
polychaete worms,
and fish, live as commensals inside the echiuran's burrow.Some of these trace fossils may have been made by echiurans, but a number
of other organisms make very similar burrows.Body fossils of echiurans are
much rarer, since echiurans have no hard parts.The oldest plausible echiuran
fossil is Pennsylvanian.For more information, visit V.Murina's page on the biology of Echiura, including a lengthy checklist of species.This photograph appears courtesy of
Jeff Judd, a man who knows
his mud.Here's a
little more information from his Master's research on Urechis caupo.Rudolph Leuckart,
the great 19th century zoologist, created a classic set of wall charts in
zoology.Click
here for his
illustration of echiurans and sipunculans (another phylum, probably
related to the annelids).DIET
Echiurans eat bits of dead plants, animals, and microorganisms that live on sand, mud, and rock.CONSERVATION STATUS
Echiurans are not considered endangered or threatened.You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.From the Greek Echis for Viper and Ura a tail.Body has more than two cell layers, tissues and organs.Body possesses a through gut with a mouth and anus.Has a simple simple nervous system with no brain but a ventral nerve chord.Has a true circulatory system, closed or open.Reproduction normally sexual and gonochoristic.These pages are here free for you to use, I would like to keep them that way, however making and running this site, and the other sites I am currently making or have made, on Birds, Mammals, Insects and Fish and Bacteria as well as all the other invertebrates costs money.The first is by using the search engine here, that way you make me 2 or 3 cents a time, not a lot but it adds up.Follow the link for more information.In some species the proboscis is very long, e.Echiuran intestines are long and coiled, see right.Annelida, and were once considered Annelids.This notice must be retained in the code as is!Tree of Life Web Project.This page is a
Tree of Life Branch Page.Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of
a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life.Subcategories
This category has only the following subcategory.Media in category "Echiura"
The following 3 files are in this category, out of 3 total.This page was last modified on 12 August 2008, at 01:42.Text is available under GNU Free Documentation License.Source:
NODC Taxonomic Code, database (version 8.Threatened and Endangered Species (TESS) Search
U."Limit your search to only Taxonomic Serial Numbers (TSNs) in the ITIS database."Please see our brief essay.The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World,
Princeton University Press, copyright 2003.The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors.
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