What is "chloeia"

Chloeia is a genus of marine worm which belongs to the Polychaeta worms.

Members of this genus are morphologically characterized by an elliptical body composed of certain number of segments, depending on the species, with external gills situated on both lateral sides of the back, each segment has a pair of them. Their number and repartition also depends on the species. Lateral sides of the body are cover with fin, sharp and venomous whitish calcareous bristles or setae. Adults of this genus are often colorful especially on the dorsum.

The locomotion is done by parapodia, every segment possesses a pair in bilateral position, from which are activated "paddles", one dorsally called notopodia and another one ventrally called neropodia.

Chloeia's distribution is circumtropical. Most of the known species are found in the Indian and Pacific Ocean so only few species lives in the Atlantic Ocean.