page_title: Lanice conchilega
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Lanice conchilega / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: A photograph of the sand mason, Lanice conchilega, taken in 10m of water in False Bay Cape Town using a housed Fuji camera
context_page_description: Lanice conchilega, commonly known as the sand mason worm, is a species of burrowing marine polychaete worm. It builds a characteristic tube which projects from the seabed, consisting of cemented sand grains and shell fragments with a fringe at the top.
  Polychaetes, or marine bristle worms, have elongated bodies divided into many segments. Each segment may bear setae and parapodia. Some species live freely, either swimming, crawling or burrowing, and these are known as "errant". Others live permanently in tubes, either calcareous or parchment-like, and these are known as "sedentary".
context_section_description: L. conchilega can grow up to thirty centimetres long with as many as three hundred segments. It has an elongated body divided into two parts. The head bears a dense tuft of long, thin tentacles. The upper lip is narrow and encloses the mouth. The buccal segment has protruding lobes laterally and ventrally and there are many eye spots. Segments 2 to 4 bear branching gills with broad stems and a thick crown. The third segment has a large lobe that obscures the second segment. Posterior to these, the thoracic region consists of seventeen segments and is cylindrical and firm. There are glandular pads on the ventral sides of segments 14 to 20 which bear both hair-like and hooked chaetae. The long, slender abdomen is soft and bears only hooked chaetae. The worm is yellowish, pink or brown with pale-coloured tentacles and red gills.
caption: Lanice conchilega under water
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