serpula

CIDE DICTIONARY

serpulan. [L., a little snake. See Serpent.].
     Any one of numerous species of tubicolous annelids of the genus Serpula and allied genera of the family Serpulidæ. 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.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

serpula, n. (pl. serpulae) any of various marine worms of the family Serpulidae, living in intricately twisted shell-like tubes.

Etymology
LL, = small serpent, f. L serpere creep

For further exploring for "serpula" in Webster Dictionary Online


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