Neopolynoe antarctica
# Neopolynoe antarctica

Neopolynoe antarctica is a scale worm known from the Magallanes Region of the South Atlantic Ocean and from the Southern Ocean south of New Zealand at depths to about 200 m.

## Description

Neopolynoe antarctica has up to 86 segments with 15 pairs of elytra. There is a grayish-brown ovate ring and faint spots along the dorsum with the rings also on the dorsal cirri and antennae. The prostomium has a pair of acute anterior projections on its anterior margin and the lateral antennae are inserted beneath (ventrally) it. The notochaetae are distinctly thicker than the neurochaetae and possess bidentate tips.

## Biology

Neopolynoe antarctica has a commensal relationship with other tube-building polychaetes, with them hosting N. antarctica inside their tubes. Other host taxa include hydroids of the genus Thuiaria.

