• Skip to main content
  • Français
Press
  • Home
  • Institute
    • Mediterranean species
      Annular seabream
      Axinella sponge
      Black scorpionfish
      Black seabream
      Black sea cucumber
      Black sea urchin
      Blacktailed wrasse
      Blotched picarel
      • About
      • › In brief
      • › Global advocacy
      • › 50+ years of history
      • The Team
      • › Organisation
      • The Aquarium
      • › About the aquarium
      • › Practical information
      • › Mediterranean species
      • › Mediterranean biotopes
      • A site in nature
      • › Les Embiez island
      • The Association
      • › Board of directors
      • › Honorary committee
      • › Become a member
  • Research
    • Research Programmes
      LIFE Pinnarca
      MaCoBios
      Posidonia oceanica seagrass m [...]
      New Innovative Feed for Susta [...]
      Environmental DNA (eDNA)
      Ich.T.O.
      Podestat
      Integrated multi-trophic aqua [...]
      • › Research programmes
      • › Research Center
      • › Scientific Communication
      • › International Cooperation
      • › Take OFF, Take Ocean For Future
  • Outreach
    • Environmental issues
      Climate
      Biodiversity
      Nature-based solutions
      Living resources
      Governance
      The Mediterranean, a model ocean
      • › Popular science
      • › Newsletter
      • › Media Library
      • › Press review
      • › Environmental issues
 › Abécédaire › Mediterranean fanworm
Mediterranean species :

Mediterranean fanworm

A worm living inside a stiff tube
Did you know ?
It is very sensitive to vibrations in the water and will retract inside its tube at the slightest signal.

This marine worm lives inside a 20 to 30cm-long tube of its own making. It builds it from fine particles that it secretes itself, and can retract inside the tube. The branchial plume is cylindrical and arranged in two lobes of different sized spirals. The main lobe has several whorls and 200 to 300 filaments. It is very colourful (white or yellow with purple bands), has a respiratory function and is also used to capture plankton or particles drifting in the current. The Mediterranean fanworm lives on rocks or sometimes protruding from the sand, between 0 and 50m deep. It is found in the Mediterranean and from Senegal to the North Sea in the Atlantic.

Tweet
Share
Share
0 Shares

Phylum: Annelida
Class: Polychaeta
Order: Sedentaria
Family: Sabellidae
Scientific name: Spirographis spallanzanii

French: Spirographe
Spanish: Plumero de mar
Italian: Ombrella di mare
German: Röhrenwurm

Ornate wrasse Prev
Longstriped blenny Next
Institut océanographique Paul Ricard
Île des Embiez - 83140 Six-Fours-les-Plages
Tél. +33 (0)4 94 34 02 49
  • › Partners
  • › Press
  • › Sitemap
  • › Terms & Conditions
  • › Privacy Policy
  • › Cookies Policy
  • › Credits