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| flatworms text index | photo index |
| worms > Phylum Platyhelminthes > Class Turbellaria > Order Polycladida |
| Red-striped
flatworm Maritigrella virgulata* Family Euryleptidae updated Nov 08 Where seen? Sometimes seen on some of our shores, among coral rubble usually at night on our Southern shores. Features: 5-7cm long. Body is beige with a pattern of fine black bars along the edges with a thin broken red line along the centre. It has a pair of pseudotentacles at the front made up of folded edges of the body. What does it eat? Maritigrella flatworms eat ascidians by sucking out individual animals with their tube-shaped pharynx (a part of the gut) that can be pushed out through the mouth to engulf the prey. |
 Sisters Island, Jul 06 |
 Pulau Jong, Jul 07 |
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 Pulau Semakau, Oct 09 |
*Tentative identification. Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
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Acknowledgement With grateful thanks to Leslie H. Harris of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for comments on this worm and its identification. References
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CSIRO Publishing. 97pp.
. IKAN-Unterwasserachiv. 723pp.|
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