![Horsehair worm (Gordius villoti)[Credits : M.W.F. Tweedie from the Natural History Photographic Agency-EB Inc.]](http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/01/35701-003-BE3082FC.gif)
any of the approximately 250 to 300 species of the class Nematomorpha, or Gordiacea (phylum Aschelminthes). The young of these long, thin worms are parasitic in arthropods. The adults are free-living in the sea or in freshwater. The hairlike body sometimes grows to a length of 1 m (about 39 inches).
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