Grube, 1848
Description
Small (2-60 mm) pelagic polychaetes, flattened and delicate, transparent in life. Prostomium with prominent laterally directed antennae, a pair of nuchal organs and, normally, a pair of eyes. First pair of parapodial appendages often lost in the adult. Second segment with long cirrus-like appendages which are supported by an acicula.
Parapodia biramous, without chaetae or aciculae. Noto- and neuropodia oar-shaped. Dorsal and ventral cirri absent. Body in some species with a posterior tail region with rudimentary parapodia.
Pharynx is eversible, unarmed.
Pygidium without cirri [Tomopteridae ].
Tomopterids are carnivores preying upon other zooplankton and may be found both near surface and at considerable depths in ocean waters. They swim vigorously by rapid beating of the parapodia and may undergo diurnal vertical migrations, rising to the surface at night.
[after Hayward and Ryland, 1990; Pleijel and Dales, 1991]
Two species of the Tompteridae are included in this volume:
Tomopteris helgolandica
Tomopteris septentrionalis