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| worms text index | photo index |
| Worms > Phylum Platyhelminthes > Class Turbellaria > Order Polycladida |
size in length of the worm
| 8-12cm. Black with bluish white margin, and many tiny spots and raised bumps in white, yellow or orange. Coral rubble, reefs. Commonly seen on our Southern shores. | 8-10cm. Brown with rich patterns of curving stripes in white and rose pink, from the centre of the body to the sides. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on our Southern shores. | 8-10cm. Dark brown with fine light to maroon striping from the centre of the body to sides like the veins of a leaf. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on many of our shores. | 8-10cm. Mottled brown or dark-green. Fine white and black edge. Coral rubble, seaweeds, seagrasses. Sometimes seen on our shores. | 4-8cm. Brown with white spots and line of crowded white spots along the centre and along body edges. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen in numbers on our Southern shores. |
| 1-3cm long. Body with thin orange margin and dark blotches at the edges. Seen on Beige ascidians on Northern shores. | 5-7cm. Beige with a pattern of black bars along the edges, plain centre with faint reticulated pattern. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on some of our shores. | 5-7cm. Beige with a pattern of black bars along the edges, thin broken red line along the centre. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on some of our shores. | 8-10cm long. Body with thin black margin and wider orange margin crossed with white bars and tiny black spots. Reefs. Rarely seen on the intertidal. | 8-10cm long. Body with thin black bordered solid orange margin and long narrow white bars. Reefs. Rarely seen on the intertidal. |
| 5-8cm. Dark brown to black with narrow orange border on a transparent whitish edge. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on many of our Southern shores. | 5-8cm. Black with a margin of orange and white. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on some of our Southern shores. | 5-8cm. Black with a margin of yellow and white. Reefs. Sometimes seen on some of our Southern shores. | 4-5cm. Black with a margin of blue and black. Reefs. Rarely seen on the intertidal. | 3-4cm long. White with broad bands at the margin: black, orange to transparent grey. Coral rubble, reefs. Rarely seen on the intertidal. |
| 5-6cm. Pinkish cream with black and orange margin and thin white stripe down the middle. Sometimes seen on our southern shores. | 5-8cm. Light brown to dark grey with darker brown margin and white-and-dark-brown stripe down the middle. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on our southern shores. | 5-8cm. Dark brown to grey with black-and-white margin and white-and-black stripe down the middle. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on our shores. | 4-6cm. Cream with purple spotted margin and purple spots all over. Body may be yellowish if the worm has just eaten. Coral rubble. Sometimes seen on our northern shores. | |
| 2-4cm. Body bluish-white to bluish (not solid blue and not white). One central line that is golden-speckled yellow with intermittent dull orange, so it appears braided, with dark blue border. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on our Southern shores. | 2-4cm. Creamy-white to bluish-creamy-white. Two fine blue lines along the centre which are usually so close together they appear as one solid blue line. Coral rubble, reefs. Often seen on many of our shores. | 2-4cm. Body light bluish-white to bluish (not solid blue and not white). One central line yellow with dark blue border. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on some of our shores. | 4-5cm. Body solid blue to bluish purple (not bluish-white). Central line white (not yellow or golden) becoming orange or red near the head, edged with a thin dark purple border. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on some of our shores. | |
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| 2-4cm. White or bluish becoming dark blue at the margin. Three lines along the centre of the body, each line yellow with a fine blue border. In juvenile worms, often only the centre line is clear. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on our Southern shores. | 2-4cm. Creamy-white with blue margin. Three ocher lines with brownish borders along the centre. Red-tipped pseudotentacles. Coral rubble near living reefs. Sometimes seen on our Southern shores. | 1cm long. Body black with white ovals and blobs of various random sizes from large to smaller dots to tiny spots. Coral rubble. Margin bright orange. Rarely seen on the intertidal. | 2-3cm. White with tiny blue dots along the margin. Rocky shores, under stones. Seen on many of our shores. | |
| 1.5-4cm. Sand or mud-coloured with speckles. Soft silty ground. Sometimes seen on some of our Northern shores. | 2-3cm. Plain dark red, maroon or brown. Sometimes common in the back mangroves. | 3-4cm. Bright red with no other large markings. Coral rubble, reefs. Sometimes seen on our Northern shores. | 6-10cm. Beige, nearly transparent, internal parts sometimes visible. Rocky shores, under stones. Sometimes seen on some of our Southern shores. | |
| Not flatworms | ||||
| 1cm or less. Brown sometimes with white stripe. Sometimes seen in large numbers on hard corals, anemone corals and corallimorphs. | 1cm or less. Flat, colour and pattern matching host. Produces fine strings many times longer than the body. On leathery soft corals on our Southern shores. |
*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination of internal parts.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.
These are NOT flatworms
| Much longer than broad. Common. They are ribbon worms. | 1-10cm, not as flat as flatworms. Various shapes, colours and patterns. These are molluscs. | 1-3cm, rounded. Common on rocky shores. These are molluscs. | To 9cm. Common in seagrass areas. These are flatfishes. |
how to tell apart flatworms and slugs
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photo
index of
marine worms on this site
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