Spirobranchus triqueter
ANNELIDA
Serpulidae
๐๐ Just like the Spirorbis tube worms in my previous post, ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ is a sedentary annelid living in its own calcareous tube. As you see here, it is a shy little guy and it prefers to withdraw inside the tube when it gets scared!
๐ ๐ซย ๐. ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ uses the branchial crown both to eat and breathe. You can see the โbranchesโ moving as it tries to catch food particles in the water.
๐๐จโ๐ฉโ๐งโ๐ฆ The shape of the operculum is very useful to differentiate this species from its close relative ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช, much more common under rocks at low tide. The operculum is generally conical and this one is smooth, but it varies slightly among individuals and it can actually have 3 spines on the top!
Sources
- WoRMS
- MarLIN
- Doris
- Bok, M. J., Porter, M. L., Ten Hove, H. A., Smith, R., & Nilsson, D-E. (2017). Radiolar Eyes of Serpulid Worms (Annelida, Serpulidae): Structures, Function, and Phototransduction. The Biological Bulletin, 233(1), 39-57. DOI: 10.1086/694735ย