A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Spirobranchus giganteus
The worms's most distinct features are the two "crowns" that are shaped like Christmas-trees. These "crowns" are actually highly modified prostomial palps which are specialized mouth appendages of the worm. Each spiral is composed of feather-like tentacles called radioles, which are heavily ciliated this allows any prey that are trapped in them to be transported straight towards the worm's mouth!
Christmas-tree worms are widely distributed throughout the world's tropical oceans. They have been known to occur from the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific.
Spotted on a dive trip of an Island in Malaysia.
Spotted on Oct 25, 2011
Submitted on Oct 25, 2011
2 Comments
Ha ha Palaimon, all they are missing is a star on the top and presents underneath. :D
Nice picture!!
This year i like to have a xmastree like this :-)