Shapes
Shapes of the body and the prostomium play another important role in the identification of polychaetes.
Polychaetes have a wide variety of locomotory adaptations depending on
their lifestyle and body shapes. Active burrowing polychaetes generally
have elongated bodies, reduced parapodia and head appendages and many similar
segments. Examples of these polychaetes are :
Adaptations such as being vermiform shaped, elongated and flattened give the polychaetes advantages for a life in the interstitial system of sand grains.
The advantages are :
- able to enhance forces of friction against substratum.
- able to increase the enlargement of surface contact with the sand grains.
- able to squeeze through narrow crevices.
- able to increase their body flexibility.
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