“Metamerism &

Reproduction in
Annelida”
A presentation compiled
from various sources by
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA,
Zoology Dept. Bhavan’s College, Andheri.
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Sites from which presentations have been downloaded and later editted.
I am indeed thankful to them for their kindness and support :
http://esg-www.mit.edu:8001/esgbio/cb/org/organelles.html
http://faculty.pnc.edu/jcamp/parasit/parasit.html
http://www.amnh.org/rose/hope/creatinghope/
http://www.biology.eku.edu/SCHUSTER/bio%20141/POWERPOINT
%20NOTES/Intro%20to%20Protozoa_files/fullscreen.htm
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~zoology/eeob405/
http://www.tulane.edu/~wiser/protozoology/pwpt/
http://www.iep.water.ca.gov/suisun/photos/wildlife.html
http://www.uta.edu/biology/marshall/2343/
http://www.uta.edu/biology/faculty/faculty.html
http://www.okc.cc.ok.us/biologylabs/Documents/Zoology/PowerPoint.htm
http://bio.fsu.edu/
http://www.aw-bc.com/
http://www.nhm.org/
http://www.geo.cornell.edu/eas/education/course/descr/EAS302/presentations/

It is very easy to find mistakes in these presentations…..I request you to kindly

rectify them and supply me the modifications needed at parvishpandya@yahoo.com
Thanks a lot and have fun in teaching & learning Zoology….
Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Phylum Annelida
 PHYLUM ANNELIDA
(Annulus: Little rings)
• HABIT: Free living or Ectoparasitic.
• HABITAT:Sea water, fresh water, moist soil.
• SIZE : It varies from 1 mm to 3 metres.
• SHAPE : Body is long, cylindrical or flattened.

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What is a segmented worm?

•Long and narrow

•Closely related to crabs and
snails
•Has a body built of ring-like
segments

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METAMERISM

ƒ Metamerism is the phenomenon in which the

body of an animal is divided into antero-
posterior row of similar part or sections.
ƒ These sections are called as segments or
metamers or somites.
ƒ It involves a longitudinal division of body of a
bilaterally symmetrical organism into a linear
series of similar segments.

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Metamerism
•Have an anterior prostomium and posterior pygidium; both
nonsegmented
• Body is divided into a linear series of similar parts or segments, and
each segment is called a metamere
• The pattern of repeated segmentation is called metamerism
• Each metamere is separated from the next by a transverse septum
• Each metamere acts as a hydrostatic skeleton
• Each metamere has longitudinal and circular muscles; longitudinal
muscle contraction causes segments to shorten; circular muscle
contraction causes segments to elongate
• Each segment usually bears one or more chitinous bristles called setae;
help anchor segments

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TYPES OF METAMERISM

• True & false metamerism.

• Complete and incomplete metamerism.
• External and internal metamerism.

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Nervous System
• Consists of a brain, which is
connected to a pair of ventral
longitudinal nerve cords, with a
ganglion in each segment
(metameric)

Circulatory System
• Closed circulatory system, in
which the blood is always enclosed
within blood vessels that run the
length of the body and branch to
every segment
• Several hearts (5 in earthworms) are
used to pump blood through the
closed circuit
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Excretory System
• Consists of paired (metameric)
metanephridia
• Excretory tubes with ciliated funnels
that remove waste from the coelomic
fluid; open to the outside via excretory
pores.

Note:
Not all organ systems are
metameric
For example, the digestive system
extends the length of the organism
and is differentiated along its
length
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 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Development
of
Metameric,
Coelomic
Spaces

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Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Internal Structures of an Earthworm

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Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Nereis

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Sedentary Polychaete Lugworm

Anus
Mouth

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Sedentary Polychaete
Amphitrite

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 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Earthworm
Cross -Section

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Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Class Polychaeta
("many bristles”)
General Characteristics

• Marine worms, including

sandworms and clamworms.
• Each segment is equipped with a
pair of fleshy paddle-like structures -
parapodia; used in locomotion
• Parapodia contain a large number
of chitinous bristles – setae; anchor
the worms

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Polychaetes: General Characteristics cont.

•Prostomium is well equipped with sensory and feeding

structures

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Polychaetes: General Characteristics cont.

• Mouth is located just below the

prostomium, but in front of the
modified segments - peristomium
• Digestive system includes a
muscular pharynx that can be
everted through the mouth
• Pharynx is equipped with pincer-
like jaws

• Although many of the smaller polychaetes lack respiratory

structures, the larger one do possess gills
• Gills are usually modifications of the parapodia

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• serial repetition of cavities and structures
• transverse septa (mesoderm)
• selection?
• independent regulation
• e.g., hydrostatic skeleton
• hyp: burrowing efficiency enhanced - competitive edge
• relative energetic of cost of peristaltic waves
• regional specialization - tagmatization
• restriction of structures, divergence of repeated structures

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Internal transport
• closed
• dorsal vessel is contractile (propels blood)
• connected to ventral vessel at gut
• hemoglobin
• nephridial system
• ciliated tube
• uptake and removal of nitrogenous wastes
• resorption of amino acids, H2O, ions
Class Polychaeta: Diversity
• Although a number of polychaetes are active predators, some are
sedentary and burrow into mud or live in protective tubes in the
mud
• In several of these species filter feeding has evolved
• A good example is the fan worm Sabella, with their feather-like
head structures called radioles

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Class Polychaeta: Diversity cont.
• Chaetopterus is tube dweller; lives in a U-shaped tube
• Parapodia are highly modified into 3 fan-like
structures that bring water into the tube
• The notopodium secretes a mucous bag that traps
food from the water flowing through the tube; the bag is
periodically passed anteriorly toward the mouth

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Class Polychaeta: Diversity cont.

• Arenicola lives in a J-shaped burrow

• It employs peristaltic movements to generate a water flow
• Food is filtered out from the front of the burrow

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Class Oligochaeta cont.
• Earthworms feed on vast quantities of soil that contains living and
decaying organic material.
• Digestive tract of the annelids shows specialization along its length:
mouth, pharynx, crop (food storage), gizzard (grinding), calciferous
glands (accessory glands that excrete excess calcium from the food)
• Remainder of the gut is the intestine - for digestion and absorption
• Its surface area is increased because of a dorsal longitudinal fold
called the typhlosole

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Class Oligochaeta ("few bristles")
• Many of the morphological structures are reduced when
compared to the polychaetes
• Prostomium lacks sensory structures
• Parapodia are absent; each segment usually contains one or
more pairs of setae; used in locomotion
• Aquatic forms usually have larger setae than the terrestrial
forms

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Class Oligochaeta cont.

• Lack respiratory organs; gas exchanges occurs across the body wall
• Hermaphroditic, but exchange sperm during copulation
• During copulation, worms join their
anterior ends; held together by mucous
secretions from a clitellum
• After reciprocal copulation, sperm is
stored in seminal receptacles
• Clitellum then secretes a mucous tube
that serves as a cocoon
• The cocoon moves anteriorly and eggs
from the oviduct and sperm from the
seminal receptacles are poured into it;
fertilization occurs in the cocoon
• Cocoon eventually slips off the anterior
end of the worm
• In time, young worms emerge from the
cocoon Dr. PARVISH PANDYA’s presentation
Class Hirudinea
• Body is dorso-ventrally flattened
• Anterior segments are modified as a small sucker which surrounds the
mouth; posterior segments form a larger sucker
• Setae are completely absent
• Evidence of segmentation externally, but no internal septa
• There is serial repetition of many of the organs (e.g., nephridia and
testes)

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tubes within tubes cuticle
(collagen)
epidermis
glandular
dorsal vessel
innervated

nephrostome
G I tract

septum
2 layers
ventral vessel

c.musc.

nerve cord
l.musc.
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Tube Dwellers “Sedentaria”
• straight or u-shaped
• mucus, CaCO3 ,
sand “reefs”
• modified setae
• “tentacles”

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gills (modified parapodia) cilia and gills move water

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THEORIES ON METAMERISM

Different theories has been put forward because it

occurs both in Arthropoda & Vertebrates.
The various theories are as follows:
1) Fission theory
2) Pseudometamerism theory
3) Cyclomerism theory
4) Embryological theory
5) Locomotion theory

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SIGNIFICANCE OF
METAMERISM
• Locomotion
• Burrowing
• Reproduction
• Rapid evolution of high grade of
organization

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REPRODUCTION

• It takes place both asexually & sexually.

• Asexual reproduction occurs without the
fusion of male and female gametes.
• Sexual reproduction takes place by the
fusion of male and female gametes(sex
cells).

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Reproductive System
• Most annelids are hermaphroditic, but they are usually cross
fertilizers.
• Earthworms and leeches form pairs and reciprocally fertilize one
another
• Some annelids (e.g. marine sandworms) are dioecious and they
release eggs and sperm into the marine environment, where gametes
unite to form trochophore larvae

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ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION

• Polychetes & aq.oligochetes show asexual

reproduction.
• Budding & fragmentation occurs in
polychetes.
• Fragmentation is divided into two
types:a)Orderly and b)Spontaneous.

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SEXUAL REPRODUCTION

• It is shown by all the three type class

• Class polychaeta e.g. Aphrodite,
Amphitrite, Arenicola etc.
• Class oligochaeta e.g. Pheretima.
• Class hirudinea e.g. Hirudinaria.

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 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Earthworm Reproduction

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Class Hirudinea con’t

• Leeches are hermaphroditic but engage in cross-

fertilization; some use hypodermic impregnation
• Leeches have a clitellum and are capable of
generating a cocoon

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Reproduction
• dioecious
• epitoky
• atokes bud epitokes
• dispersal -> mating
• trocophore larvae

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Trochophore larva Apical tuft

Stomach

Ciliary band

Mouth

Anus

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Annelid development

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The End

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