What do polychaetes eat?
Because polychaetes exhibit an amazing array of body forms, especially in the head region, there are a variety of ways they acquire their food. Members of some species are carvivorous, and capable of catching their prey with the use of jaws that can be extended out of the mouth. In the photo above, you can see the jaws within the front end of the body as well as extended. Other types of individuals actively consume the sand or mud in which they are burrowing, stripping off bacteria and other nutrients from the particles. For some species, the process of acquiring sea floor mud or sand can be quite intricate, with the use of simple to complex arrays of filaments coming off the head region, as in the individual shown below.
