n. - Any one of numerous species of tubicolous annelids of the
genus Serpula and allied genera of the family Serpulidae. They secrete
a calcareous tube, which is usually irregularly contorted, but is
sometimes spirally coiled. The worm has a wreath of plumelike and often
bright-colored gills around its head, and usually an operculum to close
the aperture of its tube when it retracts.