Serpula

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Serpula

(n.) Any one of numerous species of tubicolous annelids of the genus and allied genera of the family Serpulidae. They secrete a calcareous tube, which is usually irregularly contorted, but is sometimes spirally coiled. The worm has a wreath of plumelike and often bright-colored gills around its head, and usually an operculum to close the aperture of its tube when it retracts.