He. 25 Nemertine

            Kingdom         - Animalia

            Phylum            - Nemertea

Common name: Ribbon worms and Proboscis worms

Characters:

            The most distinctive feature of nemertines is a large proboscis, which you can clearly see in the image to the right. In one group of nemertines is tipped with a piercing barb known as a stylet. In other nemertines, the proboscis is unarmed, but often secretes sticky fluid. Normally, this proboscis is retained in a specialized sac in the animal's body, the rhynchocoel. To capture prey, the proboscis is rapidly everted (turned inside-out) and shot out of the rhynchocoel. It wraps around the prey, and toxic secretions immobilize the prey; nemertines with stylets use them to stab the prey repeatedly, introducing toxins into the body. Generally, nemertines are carnivorous; most feed on small invertebrates like crustaceans and annelids, but some feed on the eggs of other invertebrates, and a few live inside the mantle cavity of molluscs and feed on microbes filtered out by the host.