Buskiella

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Buskiella is a genus of deep-sea bristle worms (polychaete annelids). They live in very deep water, usually look blue or yellow depending on lighting, and swim by swinging their bodies from side to side, using their bristles like oars. Each species has about nine to eleven bristle-bearing segments (chaetigers).

Species in this genus include:

- Buskiella abyssorum: This species is covered by a transparent mucus sheath. It has a cephalic cage—long bristles forming a fan around the head—and prominent, well-developed parapodia (side structures). It was first described by McIntosh in 1885 from deep waters off Sierra Leone and has since been found in other parts of the Atlantic.

- Buskiella flabelligera: Described originally as Flota flabelligera by Olga Hartman in 1967 near southwestern Chile. It has fewer than ten segments and a thick mucus sheath. It is covered with papillae (small projections) and shows bioluminescence along its body, with spots that are especially bright. It is most similar to B. vitjasi.

- Buskiella vitjasi: First described in 1977 as Flota vitjasi. It grows to about 20–30 mm in length and has 9 chaetigers. It is found at depths of 4,000 to 6,000 meters in the Pacific near the Kuril-Kamchatka trench. In preserved specimens, its color ranges from reddish brown to light brown, and it also has a thick, translucent gelatinous sheath covering the head and body.