Anybody ID this Tube or Feather Duster worm?

[Wy Renegade]

Well that died without a whole lot of help.

Based on Shimek's description I'm indeed inclined to believe its a member of the family Serpulidae, which would make it a "hard-tubed feather duster", but don't think it is either a Christmas tree worm or a Coco worm.

Somebody suggested Pomatestegus stellatus (the Star Horseshoe worm)

Here's an internet picture - seems sorta close;



Not much info on these . . . but I was able to find the following info;

Star feather worm
Pomatostegus stellatus
Abildgaard, 1789

Description:
This feather worm has a double fold of radioles that form a U-shaped crown. The opening of the tube has a simple lid (operculum) that consists of a series of discs. The tubes are hard, calcareous. The color of the crown is variable, most common are shades of red, orange, yellow or white. The crown can be almost uniformly colored, or banded.
Size: whole animal up to 10 cm, crowns up to 4 cm.

Habitat:
This feather worm occurs all over the reefs. Tubes usually encased in living coral.
Depth: ranges from 3 m down to 30 m.

Distribution:
Common all over the Caribbean.

Couple good pictures and some more info on this website;
Marine Species Identification Portal : Star feather worm - Pomatostegus stellatus

[Skyhigh]

Coco worm.

[Wy Renegade]

Coco worm.

Thanks Bryan, but I don't think so . . . if it was a Coco worm, shouldn't it have a spiral crown on it by now? This one is three years old and is bilobed with a u-shape in the middle. It also doesn't look like any of the Coco worms I've seen in the LFS.

[Skyhigh]

hard tube coco worm soft tube feather duster.. and it not Andy!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Skyhigh]

calcium tube are all going to to in 1 class and slime tube would be the other

[Wy Renegade]

calcium tube are all going to to in 1 class and slime tube would be the other

Not to argue, but techniqually they are both in the same class: Class Polychaeta (Feather Duster worms) of the Phylum Annelida (the segmented worms). Polychaeta has four different families: Sabellidae (soft tubes), Serpulidae (Calcarous tubes), Spirorbidae (diminitive tubes), and Sabellaridae (tubes of cemented sand or substrate grains). I agree that they are family Serpulidae, but I don't think they are Protula magnifica (Coco worms) or Spirobranchus giganteus (Christmas tree worms).

[Wy Renegade]

hard tube coco worm soft tube feather duster.. and it not Andy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry Bryan, I'm half asleep at the computer right now and wasn't paying enough attention. Edited my previous post. So how does a Christmas tree worm fit into that classification scheme? And what about Filograna elatensis and Filograna implexa? Both have hard calcareous tubes and neither is a Coco worm?

[Skyhigh]

Sorry Bryan, I'm half asleep at the computer right now and wasn't paying enough attention. Edited my previous post. So how does a Christmas tree worm fit into that classification scheme? And what about Filograna elatensis and Filograna implexa? Both have hard calcareous tubes and neither is a Coco worm?

they both have to have the coral to live for the most part dusters and cocos do there own thing

[Wy Renegade]

they both have to have the coral to live for the most part dusters and cocos do there own thing

Thats an interesting point on the Spirobranchus giganteus (Christmas tree worm), I asked somebody about that on another forum, and they told me their coral died, but the worms survived, and they later sold the rock full of worms. FWIW neither Filograna elatensis and Filograna implexa are associated with coral and both have a hard calcareous tube.