English: Ribbon worms; Proboscis worms; Nemertini; Nemertinea; Rhynchocoela.
Name: from Nemertes, one of the Nereids of Greek mythology.
Species: 1400.
Region: worldwide, oceans.
Habitat: marine, sea floor, in and among seaweeds, rocks, mussel and barnacle beds, or buried in mud, sand, or gravel substrates; some in brackish water, estuaries; some in fresh water, few terrestrial.
ZoologyNemertea are invertebrate animals; most are less than 20 centimetres long; very slim, only a few millimeters wide; patterns of yellow, orange, red and green coloration.
Ecology and distributionFood: carnivorous and predatory, catching prey by wrapping their proboscis around the prey, invertebrates such as crustaceans and annelids, stabbing the prey with the stylet until dead.; some are scavengers; some are herbivores.
Body: some are armed with a sharp stylet which may be poisonous; some use a sticky secretion on the proboscis to entrap their prey.