bristle worm
noun
variants
or less commonly bristleworm
plural bristle worms also bristleworms
: any of a class (Polychaeta) of aquatic and chiefly marine annelid worms (such as clam worms or lugworms) that usually possess paired segmental appendages bearing many bristles, that produce free-swimming larvae, and that are often brightly colored or bioluminescent : polychaete
Last week, researchers with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences helped solve the mystery and identified the creatures as polychaete worms. … They are known as "bristle worms" because of their thick bunches of seta that resemble hair …—
Dolan Reynolds
Dolan ReynoldsFor the past 11,000 years, a species of marine bristle worm has been building reefs. … The worms secrete a mucous tube, then set grains of sand and shell into the mucous, which hardens like mortar.—Carolyn Fretz
Carolyn FretzExamples of bristle worm in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Then there are the smaller, but no less fascinating, organisms like symbiotic bristle worms living inside mineral structures on volcanic seamounts in Japan.
—
Melissa Cristina Márquez,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
Most of the organisms were marine bristle worms, crustaceans, and mollusks such as snails and mussels.
—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
7 Dec. 2025
Endemic species of long, segmented bristle worms and tiny crustaceans graze on bacteria mats and flit among fields of chemosynthetic tube worms, growing thick as grass.
—
Christian Elliott,
Smithsonian Magazine,
21 Apr. 2025
Recently, however, in a study published in Nature Communications, researchers in Germany determined the different structures that one such protein in bristle worms takes in darkness and in sunlight.
—
Elise Cutts,
Quanta Magazine,
19 Dec. 2023
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Melissa Cristina Márquez,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
Most of the organisms were marine bristle worms, crustaceans, and mollusks such as snails and mussels.
—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
7 Dec. 2025
Endemic species of long, segmented bristle worms and tiny crustaceans graze on bacteria mats and flit among fields of chemosynthetic tube worms, growing thick as grass.
—
Christian Elliott,
Smithsonian Magazine,
21 Apr. 2025
Recently, however, in a study published in Nature Communications, researchers in Germany determined the different structures that one such protein in bristle worms takes in darkness and in sunlight.
—
Elise Cutts,
Quanta Magazine,
19 Dec. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Bristle worm.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bristle%20worm. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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