Category: Segmented Worms view all from this category

Description 1/8" (3 mm) long, 1/8" (3 mm) wide. In limy tube coiled like a snail shell, counterclockwise to left from opening toward center. Tiny worm inside. Whitish, translucent, 9 feathery gills; stalked lid; collar of 3 segments.

Habitat Attached to kelps, Irish moss, and other algae, and to rocks and shells; from above low-tide line to shallow depths.

Range Maine to Cape Cod; entire Pacific Coast.

Discussion These worms are unusual among polychaetes in being hermaphroditic, the forward segments of the abdomen being female and the rear ones male. The tube of the Dextral Spiral Tube Worm (S. spirillum) coils to the right. The worm itself is similar to S. borealis in measurements, habitat, and distribution.