31 July 2006
Giant feather-duster worm
by Roger onboard the Rainbow Warrior in the Mediterranean sea.
Giant feather-duster worm
Sabella spallanzanii
©Greenpeace/Roger Grace
A spectacular tube worm was present on many of our dives in the Mediterranean. Standing about half a metre tall on a parchment-like muddy tube, a spiral of feathery tentacles or gills reaches high into the water where it catches microscopic plankton for food. Standing up from the bottom, the worm looks rather like the old feather-duster used by housemaids for centuries. The detail photo shows tiny feathery branches on the gills, which trap the plankton and pass it along to the mouth of the worm protected in the tube. The feathery gills would be tasty for fish, so at the slightest disturbance the gills are withdrawn in a flash into the tube.
Detail of feathery gills of related worm Bispira volutacornis
©Greenpeace/Roger Grace
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