Syllis prolifera
species of annelid
Syllis prolifera is a species of polychaete worm in the family Syllidae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution. It was first described in 1852 by the Russian/German zoologist August David Krohn who gave it the name Syllis prolifera.
Description
This small worm grows to a length of about 25 mm (1 in). The two palps are widely separated and the eversible pharynx bears a large tooth near the rim but behind the pharyngeal opening. On the dorsal surface, long and short cirri alternate. The antennae and cirri have dark spots, but the general body colour is variable, being some shade of brown, grey or pink, sometimes with orange or pink speckling near the anterior end.
Distribution and habitat
S. prolifera is found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the northwestern Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, Mozambique and New Zealand. It is present from the lower shore down to the sublittoral zone, on soft sediments of varying types and among seaweeds.
Life cycle
S. prolifera is a "stolonate" worm and has an unusual life cycle.
The public source identifies “Syllis prolifera” as species of annelid. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Syllis, prolifera and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2221561. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1852.
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This entry incorporates text from “Syllis prolifera” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.