What's in a name? Ampharetidae.

Polychaetes ("Poly" = many; "chaetae" = bristles) are segmented worms with chitinous bristles protruding from each segment. Polychaetes are abundant components of benthic communities inhabiting intertidal to deep-sea environments. There are over 10,000 known species of polychaetes that can serve distinct ecological roles. However, taxonomic families (Kingdom > Phylum > Class > Order > Family > Genus > Species) tend to exhibit similar sets of functional traits, such as similar motility and feeding modes.

For instance, Ampharetidae is a family of polychaete worms that consists of over 230 species (Kingdom = Animalia; Phylum = Annelida; Class = Polychaeta; Order = Canalipalpata; Suborder: Terebellida; Family = Ampharetidae) and are mostly tube-building surface deposit feeders. They live in self-built tubes in the sediment and eat detritus from the sediment surface using tentacles to bring food to their mouths. They are highly selective for specific food particles primarily through pre-ingestion mechanical means as well as post-ingestion selection. Some juveniles and small species feed on high-quality, richer food items, such as diatoms and foraminiferans or even larvae. Although most adults are 1 to 6 cm long, their tubes can extend over 20 cm into the sediment.

Ampharetidae collected from the northern Bering/southern Chukchi Sea Shelf.

Amphiretidae are discretely motile. Even though they live in tubes, they can extend their tubes to be able to access more distant food sources and can even migrate, re-burrow, and construct new tubes when disturbed from their homes. Reproductive strategies within the family of Ampharetidae are diverse with a mix of free spawning and brooding.

Ampharetidae are conveyor belt bioturbators. Bioturbation is the disturbance and reworking of sediment particles by organisms through activities such as movement, burrow and tube construction, feeding, and defecating. There are many different types of bioturbation, such a conveyor belt bioturbation, which is when particles are transferred vertically from between the sediment surface and at depth within the sediment (e.g., between the top and bottom of a tube).

In the Bering and Chukchi Seas shelves, Ampharetidae polychaetes are found throughout much of the region, but in relatively low abundances.

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References:

Dauwe B, Herman PMJ, Heip CHR (1998) Community structure and bioturbation potential of macrofauna at four North Sea stations with contrasting food supply. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 173: 67–83.

Jumars P, Dorgan K, Lindsay S (2015) Diet of worms emended: An update of polychaete feeding guilds. Annu Rev Mar Sci 7.

Queirós AM, Birchenough SNR, Bremner J, Godbold JA, Parker RE, Romero-Ramirez A, Reiss H, Solan M, Somerfield PJ, Van Colen C, et al. (2013) A bioturbation classification of European marine infaunal invertebrates. Ecol Evol 3: 3958–3985.

Wilson WH (1991) Sexual reproductive modes in polychaetes: Classification and diversity. Bull Mar Sci 48: 500–516.