..... Click the link for more information. worms, it is widely distributed in marine sediments. The kinorhynch body is divided into 13 segments, each covered with a cuticle and equipped with characteristic spines. The first segment is a bristly head that can be protruded or withdrawn. Using its head as an anchor, the creature burrows through the mud, pulling its body after it. Kinorhynchs have a relatively complex digestive system, a protonephridial (excretory) system, and a relatively simple reproductive system; no cloaca is formed. Sexes are separate, and the young hatch with 11 segments and add two segments posteriorly during their six-stage juvenile growth. They feed on microscopic algae and bacteria in the sediment. Very little is known of their ecological importance.
Kinorhyncha [‚kin·ə′riŋ·kē·ə]
Kinorhyncha
A phylum of free-living marine invertebrates less than 0.04 in. (1 mm) long. They are segmented and lack external ciliation (see illustration). Kinorhynchs are benthonic, so-called because they generally dwell in mud or sand from intertidal to deep-sea habitats. Two orders are generally recognized, Cyclorhagida and Homalorhagida.
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The body is covered by a transparent cuticle secreted by an underlying epidermis. The cuticle is molted only in the process of juvenile growth. Three body regions are recognized: a head segment, a neck segment and an 11-segment trunk. The head is completely retractable. When everted, it extends its five to seven circles of recurved spines called scalids. The neck consists of plates called placids which function to close the anterior opening of the trunk when the head is retracted. Most kinorhynchs have a pair of adhesive tubes on the ventral surface of the third or fourth segment.
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