Kids Research Express

. Pogonophore, also beardworm, any member of a phylum of deep-ocean animals resembling worms that feed by means of long, hollow tentacles, each with a double row of hair-like cilia. Pogonophores live in tubes they secrete in ocean-bottom oozes, sometimes near hydrothermal vents. The animals may be more than 30 cm (more than 1 ft) long but are never more than about 2 mm (about 0.08 in) in diameter. The body has no digestive tract, and food is absorbed directly through a front region bearing up to 250 tentacles. The sexes are separate. Pogonophores were first discovered in Indonesia in 1900. Their relationship to other phyla is not yet certain, although they are clearly related to acorn worms . Scientific classification: Pogonophores make up the phylum Pogonophora.

. Annelida -> Segmented worms with a muscular body wall used for burrowing. External hairs called setae aid in traction during burrowing. An internal coelom is divided into compartments by walls known as septum. The digestive system stretches from the mouth to the anus, differentiated into regions, each with a different function. Reproduction is sexual. – Examples: Lugworms, earthworms, leeches Pogonophora -> Deep-sea worms that live in chitinous tubes attached to the ocean floor. Their long, slender body has a beard of tentacles at the head end. There is no mouth or digestive system and these animals absorb all nourishment through the body surface. They reproduce sexually. – Examples: Bead worms Vestimentifera -> Giant deep-sea worms that live in chitinous tubes attached to the ocean floor. They derive nutrition using a specialized organ called a trophosome to digest sulfide-oxidizing bacteria. – Examples: Llamellibrachs Sipuncula -> Marine worms with a saclike body an...