Polydora hoplura (P. hoplura) is apart of the shell-boring worms, known as the polydorids, or mud worms. This species is native to Europe, extending from Southern England to the Mediterranean. The only thing i knew about this species was that it was apart of the species group, annelids. I am not the one to want to willingly sit and learn about a parasitic worm (lol). However, this species is significantly harmful to its surrounding environment. As a free-living organism, P.hoplura is an inhabitant of intertidal coastal habitats, however it is most commonly known to infest marine bivalves, and cause significant damage.(Cáceres-Martínez, 2003, Simon and Sato-Okoshi, 2015, Martinelli et al., 2020, Spencer et al., 2021) . Scientists have found it difficult to observe and identify polydorids, because they are so fragile.This has been led to confusion and even led to descriptions of new species, in which needed to be synonymised with prior descriptions. 

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