Platynereis dumerilii

Platynereis dumerilii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Annelida
Class:	Polychaeta
Order:	Phyllodocida
Family:	Nereididae
Genus:	Platynereis
Species:	P. dumerilii
Binomial name
Platynereis dumerilii (Audouin & Milne-Edwards, 1834)

Platynereis dumerilii belongs to the Annelids. It was originally placed into the genus Nereis and later reassigned to Platynereis.Platynereis dumerilii lives in coastal marine waters from temperate to tropical zones. It can be found in a wide range from the Azores, the Mediterranean, in the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Atlantic down to the Cape of Good Hope, in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Japan, the Pacific, and the Kerguelen Islands.Platynereis dumerilii is today an important lab animal, it is considered as a living fossil, and it is used in many phylogenetic studies as a model organism. Platynereis dumerilii reaches an age of 3 to 18 month and males reach a length of 2 to 3 cm, while females reach a length of 3 to 4 cm.

Platynereis dumerilii builds tubes on its substrate. The substrate may be algae covered hard bottoms,sea grass, pelagic Sargassum rafts in the Sargasso Sea, or even rotting plant debris.Platynereis dumerilii commonly lives in 0 to 5 m depth, and so is typical for shallow infra-littoral photophilic environments. But it has been also found on a buoy in 50 m and on rotting seaweed in 100 m. It may also live in less favorable environments, like thermal vents or polluted areas near sewer outfall pipes. It dominates polluted areas and acidic areas with pH values around 6.5 fitting the preferred pH value of a subpopulation of late Platynereis dumerilii nectochaete larvae.

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