Peacock feather duster

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Identity card

Peacock feather duster

Scientific name:: Sabella spallanzanii

Family:: Sabellidae

Class:: Polychaeta

Phylum:: Annelida

Year of description:: Gmelin, 1791

IUCN Status:: Not Evaluated

Distribution:: Channel, North Sea, Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Habitat:: Benthic species that lives in strong currents.

Size:: Between 30 and 60 cm. 15 cm diameter for the plume.

Diet:: Suspension-feeding microphage, phytoplankton and zooplankton, organic particles.

Dugornay Olivier (2018). Spirographe (Sabella spallanzanii) rétracté dans son tube. Ifremer. https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00769/88111/

The tube in which this tubicolous annelid worm lives is formed of mucus produced by the animal and mud.

The spirograph lives in this tube but can come out of it.

The double plume of filaments extends and retracts into the tube at the slightest sign of danger. This plume acts as external gills but also traps particles suspended in the water, which the worm feeds on.

Source : ADER Denis, DUMAS Jacques, LE BRIS Sylvain in : DORIS, 07/12/2021 : Sabella spallanzanii (Gmelin, 1791), https://doris.ffessm.fr/ref/specie/403

Photo : Dugornay Olivier (2018). Spirographe (Sabella spallanzanii) rétracté dans son tube. Ifremer. https://image.ifremer.fr/data/00769/88111/