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Webster 1913 Edition
Serpula
‖
Ser′pu-la
,Noun.
pl.
Serpulae
(#)
, E. Serpulas
(#)
. [L., a little snake. See
Serpent
.] (Zool.)
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.