Sabellidae Family of Feather Duster Worms

Two Feather Duster Worm of the Sabellidae Family can be found in this website:

Phylogeny: Feather Duster Worms of the Sabellidae Family are within the phylum Annelida. They are in the class Polychaeta, which comes from the Greek words meaning “many bristles”. The bristles are chitinous setae, spines, or chaetae that assist the animal with movement, swimming, and anchoring. They are similar to earthworms with their bodies being composed of ringed segments. Most polychaetes are free-living, but some reside in tubes, burrows, or as parasites inside other animals. They are in the subclass Sedentaria, the infraclass Canalipalpata, and the order Sabella. The Sabellidae Family is one of four families in this order. The Sabellidae Family contains two subfamilies, two tribes, forty-one genera, and around four hundred ninety species, however, this family is currently undergoing a much-needed taxonomic revision.

Morphology: Feather Duster Worms are characterized by having two fan-shaped structures that project from their tube when submerged. These “fans” are made up of feather-like radioles. The radioles consist of paired side branches, and are used for respiration and food gathering. Their body segments are smooth and lack parapodia. Feather Duster Worms have distinct thoracic and abdominal segments. Their tubes are thinly walled. The tubes are made of mucoprotien, which may be mixed with silt, sand, or fine shell particles. The tubes are often flexible, with some species able to bend over to collect detritus from the sea floor. Feather Duster Worms have eye spots that vary widely in complexity, from simple photoreceptors to compound eyes with hundreds of facets. Feather Duster Worms are found in a variety of colors, but not in the bright colors of Christmas Tree Worms. Large Feather Duster Worms reach a maximum of 1.3 cm (0.5 inches) in length. Feather Duster Worms (Sabellids) differ from Christmas Tree Worms (Serpulids) in that they live in parchment-like tubes instead of calcareous tubes. While both families have the ability to withdraw into their tubes when threatened, Feather Duster Worms lack the ability to close off the end of their tube.

Habitat and Distribution: Feather Duster Worms may be found attached to soft substrates, such as algal holdfasts, mud, and sand, or to hard substrates including coral, pilings and rock. Most live in shallow, plankton-rich waters at depths of less than 150 m (490 feet), although some species are found as deep as 800 m (2,625 feet). They are often found in harbors, and may cause fouling on pipelines and boat hulls. Feather Duster Worms are found worldwide, in tropical to polar seas. At least thirty members of the Sabellidae Family found in Mexican waters.  Many of these species are not native and are invasive species that were introduced off the hulls of ships and by shrimp farming.

Reproduction: Feather Duster Worms can reproduce asexually by paratomy (budding from the posterior end), or sexually. They reproduce sexually via broadcast spawning with external fertilization. The fertilized eggs produce planktonic larvae which settle onto hard substrates and begin tube building. From this point forward, they are confined to their tube for the rest of their lives.

Ecosystem Roles: Feather Duster Worms feed by filtering plankton from the water column, or detritus from the ocean floor. The captured plankton are swept down a groove, by currents generated by cilia, to the mouth. This filtering process also secures fine particles that are used in tube building. They are eaten by crabs, fish, gastropods and starfish. Feather Duster Worms are very quick to retract into their tube when they sense changes in water movement or light that they associate with a predator.