• Annelids are worm-like creatures. The group includes Earthworms, Leeches, Polychaetes, and their relatives.
• They have a tendency for external segmentation, so the body is externally divided into many segments.
• Each segment can grow appendages like bristles or the claws they use for crawling, swimming, or scavenging. However, these are not true articulated limbs.
• They can also have a variety of appendages on their heads, such as antennae, simple eyes, harpoons, suckers (as leeches do), jaws, and even tentacles.
• Some Annelids are hunters, others filter plankton from water, some others get nutrients from the soil.
• All annelid bodies are supported by the internal pressure of water. Controlling this water, they can expand and contract their bodies or part of them.

Bobbit Worm; photo by JennyHuang cc-by	Leech; photo by OakleyOriginals cc-by	Earthworm; photo by SqueezyBoy cc-by

Sources:

-The Tree of Life - www.tolweb.org:
-The Variety of Life, Colin Tudge, 2000

Citation: García, A.I. 2015. The Tree Of Nature (Online) at http://thetreeofnature.com

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