Alitta succinea

Alitta succinea, also known as the pile worm or clam worm, is a common polychaete worm.

Alitta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Annelida
Class:	Polychaeta
Order:	Phyllodocida
Family:	Nereididae
Genus:	Alitta
Binomial name
Alitta succinea

It is a species of ragworm or sandworm. The terms can refer to any one of a number of other species.

This worm can reach up to 15 centimeters (6 inches) in length. Most specimens are smaller than this. It is brown coloured at the rear, and reddish-brown on the rest of its body. It has a head with four eyes, two sensory feelers or palps, and eight tentacles. It is a freeswimming polychaete, scavenging on the bottom of shallow marine waters.

Clam worms are an important food source for bottom-feeding fish and crustaceans. They can protect themselves by secreting a mucous substance which hardens to form a sheath around them.

Planktonic larvae develop, grow into adults and eventually sink to the bottom of the water.