The term Nemertea refers to the Greek sea nymph Nemertes, one of the Nereids. Nemerteans are
also known as ribbon worms (because their form is like a ribbon) or proboscis worms, because of the
presence of a muscolar eversible proboscis that the worms employ to capture their prey but it can be
used for defense or for burrowing into sand or mud, like in the case of free-living forms that spend
their life beneath rocks or into soft mud or sand. The proboscis of most of Nemerteans have a barbed
stylet which the worms use to pierce the strong exoskeleton of prey and, in many cases, it secretes a
potent neurotoxin. Once prey is immobilize the worms retract their proboscis and the victim is
swallowed whole. Most of Nemerteans are marine but others live in freshwater and a few are even
terrestrial in damp and dark habitats, like Geonemertes sp. Most of Nemerteans have two separate
sex, even if some freshwater and land species are hermaphroditic and can be self fertilizing.uequissi tet
praestie magna faccum zzrilit dolortin .
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