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Spinther
Spinther citrinus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Annelida
Class:	Polychaeta
Subclass:	Errantia
Order:	incertae sedis
Family:	Spintheridae Augener, 1913
Genus:	Spinther Johnston, 1845
Species
see text

Spintheridae is a family of marine polychaete worms with a single genus, Spinther, containing these species:

• Spinther alaskensis Hartman, 1948
• Spinther arcticus (M. Sars, 1851) (includes Spinther miniaceus Grube, 1860)
• Spinther australiensis Augener, 1913
• Spinther citrinus (Stimpson, 1854)
• Spinther ericinus Yamamoto & Imajima, 1985
• Spinther hystrix Uschakov, 1950
• Spinther japonicus Imajima and Hartman, 1964
• Spinther oniscoides Johnston, 1845
• Spinther sagamiensis Imajima, 2003
• Spinther usarpia Hartman, 1967
• Spinther vegae Augener, 1928 (includes Spinther wireni Hartman, 1948)

The animal lives as a symbiont on sponges.

Johnston's paper does not explain the choice of the name, but ancient Greek σπινθήρ means "spark." In images of the living animal, it appears to be surrounded by a cloud of pinpoints of light.

References

1. "Spinther Johnston, 1845". WoRMS. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
2. Yamamoto, R.; Imajima, M. 1985. A new species of the genus Spinther (Polychaeta, Spintheridae) from Japan. Bulletin of the National Science Museum Series A (Zoology) 11(3): 129-135
3. Andrade et al., Molecular Biology and Evolution, Volume 32, Issue 11, November 2015, Pages 2860–2875, https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msv157
4. "Spinther".

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